Here Comes Santa Claus
by YukiraKing
Summary: In the year 2034 the Digidestined's children have to step up to the plate and actively learn about themselves in an attempt to keep the worlds balance, and the perfect tool to do that? A Christmas celebration that Michael's daughter Louisa cooks up. (This is actually just really light as a way for us to breath in between what's going on with 08 right now)
1. Secret Santa

**Y/N:** Welcome to our Christmas story. This takes place in the year 2034, and is after the epilogue. We get a chance to see the children grow and learn, and really it's just a fun exercise that we wrote so that we could keep Digimon Adventure 08: Vaccine, fun and exciting for us. We were getting a little bogged down with the unhappiness of it all, and needed a quick breather. Also, we like to do things for the holidays, and Christmas is coming up really soon. So, instead of the twelve days of Christmas (which was the original plan) you're getting _twenty-two_ days. We'll be uploading a chapter a day starting today, and we'll just keep posting them until they're done.

 **Title: Here Comes Santa Claus**

 **By: YukiraKing**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.**

 **Chapter 01: Secret Santa**

 _ **Louisa Washington:**_

Everyone was gathered in the Temple courtyard. I wasn't as familiar with it as everyone else seemed to be, but that was okay. Everyone came when I asked them to. There were over a hundred pairs of eyes looking at me, and maybe, if I was at school, I might be embarrassed, and uncomfortable, but I knew each and every person that was looking my way, and I knew that they cared about me, and wouldn't care if I made a complete fool of myself. It was very refreshing.

"Thank you all for coming here today," I said brightly, clapping my hands together. I was wearing a pair of Sora's handmade mittens. They were extra soft and a bright, crisp white that was as clean and bright as the snow. They were beautiful, and by far my favourite part of my outfit. I was still wearing my winter coat from last year, because it was perfectly good still, and Mom was sure I didn't _need_ to be on top of every fashion trend. It was a nice coat, but it wasn't the one I wanted. Everything else was part of my school uniform.

Unlike all of the other children of the Digidestined, my brother Elliot and I went to school on Earth. It wasn't really fair, because the rest of the kids got to go to school together, in this very Temple even. But Elliot and I had to go to a private school with truly horrendous uniforms that made everyone look equally hideous. I didn't like being forced to fit into the same mold as everyone else. I was an individual, and I was a shining star, unique as a snowflake, and practically perfect in every way—or that's what Dad told me anyway. It was really sweet though, and I liked his description of me the best.

It made me feel _good_.

"I was thinking, how I could possibly find a way to make the holidays even _more_ special, when it occurred to me: Secret Santa. The kids at school all decided to have a great big Secret Santa, and I thought it would be _way_ more fun to have a Secret Santa with all of you instead," I said with a bright smile. I was lying. Well, not entirely. The kids at school really were participating. I just wasn't allowed.

" _What's going on?" I asked, smiling as politely as I could as Mr Lincoln let Aubrey Wilson start walking around the class with a Santa hat. Each person she stopped at got a chance to put their hand in the hat and pull out a piece of paper. Everyone was talking excitedly about it, but I didn't understand what was going on. Lucy Hoover looked to me awkwardly and forced a fake smile on her face before shrugging her shoulders, pretending she didn't know either. Jack McKinley laughed at my face, and just reached in when Aubrey got to his row. He pulled out a paper and smiled._

" _I know just what to get her," he said with a wink in Aubrey's direction. She laughed, flattered, and put a finger to her lips._

" _You can't spoil the surprise Jack," she scolded him. "Now everyone knows you've got a girl."_

" _Or I'm just trying to fool you all into thinking that way," he said with a devious smirk._

" _Oh, you're bad," she said with a laugh. She was coming towards me now, and I thought I'd finally be able to figure it out. But Aubrey looked down her nose at me and scoffed. "You've probably got better things to do with your time than to play Secret Santa with us 'lesser folk' huh? That's fine. I didn't even put your name in anyway. Don't worry about it. We don't care."_

" _What's Secret Santa?" I asked, trying not to feel hurt that she was rejecting me in front of the whole class, and that Mr Lincoln wasn't going to say anything about it._

" _It's too 'commoner' for you, isn't it," Aubrey said, sneering at me. "Don't worry. We won't make you play with us."_

I went home that very night and looked up what Secret Santa was. Once I knew what it was I desperately wanted to play too, but I wasn't allowed. My parents were famous—even though Mom wasn't acting anymore, people still loved her for the roles she had played—and Dad was doubly famous because he was a Digidestined, and Takeru's book made them some of the most popular people across the entire globe. There was one thing I wasn't entirely sure about though. Just because my parents were famous, the rest of my class acted like they were 'commoners' and I was too much of a big shot to have anything to do with them. But I knew for a fact that several other students had famous parents, and no one in our school was poor. It was a _private_ school, mostly populated by the youth of the rich. There was nothing _commoner_ about any of them.

But I was more famous than they were. It had been a big deal when I was born. I was the daughter of Tatum Jefferson and Michael Washington II. There were predictions that I would be a fourth generation actor—since Great Grandpa Henry was an actor before Dad's Dad was—and since Dad was a Digidestined, and he'd passed his Crest on to me, the whole world was watching me with a magnifying glass, waiting for me to live up to Dad's legacy. When Takeru's later books came out, and revealed that Dad was also the son of _royalty_ , well, that just added even more fuel to the flames of the kids from school. It also made my teachers really confused when Mrs Coolidge asked us all to make our family trees and present them to the class.

" _Okay," I said, smiling to Mrs Coolidge. "Mom didn't know all that much about her side of the family, and we didn't know where to look for more, but I do know that the Jefferson family has been prominent directors of the stage for the last two generations before Mom decided to be in front of the camera instead, before going into research. Grandma and Grandpa Jefferson met when Grandma was auditioning to star in Grandpa's twelfth stage production, and they got married right away."_

" _That's lovely," Mrs Coolidge told me. "And your father's side?"_

" _It gets a little complicated there," I said sheepishly. "Dad's_ Dad _is a second generation movie star, and before that they were playwrights. Dad's Mom, however, was a fairy princess from a magical realm separate to our own called Sidhendor, and was the fourth daughter born to the mad tyrant Sigma, and the megalomaniac Gaia. Sigma's Mom was the world itself, and his dad was a man that was attached to trees in a weird way. Long story short, Sigma, Gaia and Yggdrasil all tried to kill everyone that ever lived, and that sucks. But I got to be a fairy princess too, so that was pretty cool."_

" _Right…." Mrs Coolidge said slowly, as the entire class laughed at me. "I'll make a note to call your father. Maybe he can help you with your project. I do applaud your creativity though."_

Things got even more awkward between me and my classmates after that—especially when Dad decided to visit the classroom with props and everything that explained that my story was actually true. All of the kids were scared of me for awhile after that, a bunch of my ancestors tried to take over the world, and Grandma Washington was the fairy of death. They were all really mean about it actually. I thought it was cool. I guess they didn't. We hadn't managed to bridge the gap to become friends. That presentation really just secured my place as the class outcast. It wasn't much fun.

So yes, the kids at school were all about the Secret Santa, and I wasn't allowed to play. Well, the joke was on them, because I was going to organize an even _bigger_ Secret Santa, and I was going to plan a whole Christmas celebration with the Digidestined and their kids and their partners, and _our_ partners, and our friends too. It was going to be amazing.

"I have four hats here. I thought it would be way too complicated to just put everyone in one hat, and it would be better for us to be separated into age groups based on who we hang out with the most. That way, everyone gets a present that they'll actually like," I said. I pointed to the four hats: Mimi's cowboy hat that I stole when she walked in, an elf hat, Elliot's baseball cap and a Santa hat. I was pretty pleased with the selection. "Now, I have to write a bunch of names on these papers, and I thought someone could help me with it."

"I'll do it," Emiko offered. I was surprised, but I realized that Emiko loved presents, and that was awesome, because in a Secret Santa, she would get one. I smiled happily, and looked specifically to Haruki, because I expected him to offer, but he didn't. He made a point to look at his little brother Yukai instead. It was probably a good thing though, because Yukai was only seven and he was trying to fit his head in a bucket that was probably full of old, dirty water, from when it was used to wash the grime off of the courtyard walls—at Neo's insistence.

"What groups are we working with?" Mimi asked, ready to jump on board my idea. I was very happy that she was interested, since I was receiving a fairly lukewarm response, which wasn't what I'd expected when I'd come up with this idea.

"Well, I figured that you grownups know each other really well, and your partners all know each other too. And then the kids and their partners," I suggested.

"That sounds like segregation to me," Elliot said, sticking his nose where it didn't belong. I sighed at him, not wanting to reveal that the only reason I did it that was to give me a better chance at getting Haruki's name. I'd given up my chance at Neo and Evelen—Nevelen was the absolute best!—for that very chance with Haruki, and I wasn't going to risk getting Motimon just because our partners were in the running too. I knew exactly what I'd get Motimon, but that wasn't the point. I wanted Haruki!

"It's just easier," I said, looking at my feet and kicking the ground. "I didn't know how else to divide it."

"I like it," Agumon said happily, patting Gabumon's shoulder. Gabumon looked to Biyomon, and both of them nodded in agreement.

"I hope I get Chapmon!" Koromon called excitedly.

"What do we do when we get them?" Gatomon asked curiously, before too many people could express their wishes. She was so smart. I never actually explained what the names were for. I glossed over it, but I didn't really explain. And that was important.

"When you get your name, you need to get a gift for that person," I said. I was practically bubbling with excitement. "You can't tell _anyone_ what name you got. That's why it's a Secret Santa."

"Santa's always a secret," Madlyn pointed out. I looked to my precious little cousin. She was nine now, actually, so she wasn't _that_ little, but she acted like a little kid still, she wasn't like Iris anyway. Iris was very quiet and very mature for her grand total of nine years. It was ridiculous that my cousin was more mature than me—but Madlyn balanced it out. She was insane.

"You're right," I told her. "But we're just pretending to be Santa. It's just a fun game. We're not _really_ Santa."

"That's okay then," Madlyn decided.

"Okay, Emiko and Mimi, follow me. If anyone else wants to help, they can come along," I declared. I hopped off the stone bench I'd been standing on just to make sure everyone could see me. I knew that they didn't really celebrate Christmas here. They had every once in awhile, but it wasn't something they were really _into_. They liked Christmas Eve more, and treated it like a second Valentine's Day, in that couples went on walks to look at Christmas lights, and gave each other gifts and it all sounded very cute. But it wasn't what I was interested in. Not until I had a boyfriend anyway.

Christmas wasn't even a national holiday for them. The kids in Japan had to go to school and everything. I couldn't believe it when I first heard about it. But since my friends all went to school in the Digital World, it wouldn't matter. Their teachers wouldn't mind too much…probably. But I was going all out this year. I was going to be happy and have a lot of fun, and celebrate with my family and friends and spread love and good cheer. I was not going to be upset when I walked back to school after Christmas that was for sure. My classmates weren't going to get the best of me. I wouldn't let them get me down.

"I'm so glad you two are helping," I told Mimi and Emiko. No one else followed us. Not even _Mom_. She just thought I was fulfilling some wild idea I'd come up with. She didn't understand that I just wanted for _once_ for everyone to share in the commercialism with me. I needed like two things: sunshine and optimism. Those things could get me out of the funk that the kids at school kept shoving me into. I couldn't really get a lot of sunshine since it was winter. Well, the sun would shine, but it wasn't _warm_. So I had to settle for optimism, and what was more exciting than that anticipation of getting a present and having to _wait_ to know what was inside?

Nothing.

There was nothing more exciting than presents.

Emiko agreed with me. She kept up a constant stream of comments about how excited she was to be doing this. Mimi was just as excited and even tried to put her name in the kids draw, because she refused to be called old, but she had a grey streak in her hair. It was very pretty and fortunate in its placement, but it was still grey, which made her _way_ too old to be in the kids draw.

"Why does _Ryou_ get to be in the kids draw?" Mimi pouted. "I'm way younger than him. Don't you know his story? He's so old."

"But he never grew up," I pointed out. "So he's younger than Emiko, and since she's a kid, he counts by default. It's nothing against you in particular. It's just how logic works."

"So you don't think I'm old," Mimi clarified.

"No," I lied. She was happy though, so I didn't even feel too bad for lying to her. Emiko looked like she wanted to start laughing, but even she wasn't brave enough to risk Mimi's wrath. Mimi was rather sensitive about her age. I found it hilarious, but Mom assured me that when I got to Mimi's age—I shuddered at the thought of being _fifty-five_ —I wouldn't be feeling that way anymore. Since Mom was Mimi's age, I figured she'd know, so I didn't press any further.

"Okay," Emiko said. "I've got the kids names all done. Should I start handing them out then? Or should I write out more names. I don't know what you want me to do, but I _want_ to hand the names out, just saying."

"I want the first name," I said excitedly. "I've never done this before."

"No kidding?" Emiko asked. "Me either. It'll be new for everyone then. That's awesome. And there's really no sharing? Like I can't even tell Azura who's name I got?"

"Is his name in the hat?" I asked. She nodded. "Then no. It's always going to be a secret. You only find out when you get your present. That's the beauty of it. It's a _Secret_ Santa, not a Loudmouth Santa."

"I got it," Emiko said, nodding quickly. "My lips are sealed. Will yours be?"

I reached into the Santa hat that she was holding out for me and I pulled out a name. I quickly hid it under the picnic table's top and opened it. _Emiko_. I sighed. It wasn't Haruki. But I had already come up with so many ideas for Emiko's present that it didn't matter. I could find some _other_ way to make this Christmas special for Haruki. I had to make him notice me again. He wasn't very fair the last time we'd spoken. He'd been avoiding me ever since. It had been a really long year.

" _Hi, Haruki," I said trying to keep my voice as level as possible even though I was practically melting inside. I really, really, really liked him. He was practically everything I was looking for. I'd consulted several magazine quizzes, and they all told me that I just needed to suck it up, and ask him on a date. That was totally acceptable. I didn't need to wait for him. And I was pretty sure he liked me too. I was guaranteed success! What could go wrong?_

" _Hey Louisa," he said awkwardly. He looked around making sure no one was watching us. That was a good idea, since I didn't want an audience for this. I looked around too, and there was no one around at all. He scratched the back of his head and finally looked to my face. "What're you doing here?"_

' _Here' was the Temple. I was waiting outside the school building, and Haruki had caught sight of me from the soccer field, where he was teaching the kindergartners how to play. They all looked up to him, and he was so good with them. That was one of the things I liked about him most. He was so good with people—no matter their age. And he was super cute too, that's what initially drew me in, and it didn't bother me how shallow it sounded. His looks weren't why I stuck around, they were just the packaging that held the great guy that I was really falling hard for._

" _I'm waiting for you," I said. He blushed and I did too, just because he did. "I thought maybe, we could go out somewhere? I really like you, you know, and I thought that was something we could do together, even if it's just a walk or maybe I could help with soccer practice?"_

" _I'd like that," Haruki said._

" _I mean a date," I clarified. He froze and rubbed the back of his head again._

" _I don't know," he said, hesitantly. "That might not be the best idea."_

" _Oh," I said. I turned around and walked away. I wasn't going to let him make me feel any smaller. I didn't turn back when he called my name, begging me to let him explain. I couldn't handle that. I thought he liked me, and I was so confident. All I'd done was make a fool out of myself—in front of little kids and everything!_

I still didn't know what he wanted to explain. I'd refused to talk to him for over a month, and then he got so busy with his finals that he didn't have time for me, and then he had one last summer before going to college and I was busy with my first summer job. There just wasn't time, and neither of us _wanted_ to see each other.

But I was older now, and I knew that I had acted childishly. I needed to know _why_ we weren't able to date. I knew that he liked me. After thinking about it for a long time—Mom might even say I was obsessing—I was confident that there was some _other_ reason that was keeping him from accepting my offer. And since Christmas was much more romanticized in Japan, I figured now might be an excellent time to get to the bottom of that mystery—and maybe create a romance of my own. I'd be on cloud nine if I could manage to get Haruki to give me a chance

Wouldn't _that_ just be the bee in the bonnet of the kids at school? They hated the idea that I could be happy despite their best efforts to keep me miserable. I was the bearer of Strength now, after all. I couldn't afford that weakness. If I could, I wouldn't be the girl my daddy raised me to be.

"Go give everyone else their names," I ordered Emiko, as I put the final name into the younger digimon's hat. I picked up more papers for the older digimon, and Mimi finished off the grownups. Emiko mock saluted me, and headed off, dancing from kid to kid. Madlyn's eyes lit up when she pulled out a name, and Iris smiled. Chika had to hide her name from her brother, Makoto who wanted to compare, and Renjiro made a face when he got his. I was so excited, and it looked like everyone's excitement was building too.

I couldn't wait for Christmas!

 **Featured Evolution Line** : (So, since we kind of copped out and cheated on the kids story that was originally going to be like 150 chapters or something, we decided to basically cram their most basic planned developments into this story and as such they don't get to show the evolution lines we had planned. I'm putting them up on the tumblr page too but each chapter we'll just tell you one of them for fun. Because why not?)

 **Louisa:** Ketomon—Hopmon—Spadamon—Dinohyumon—Kyukimon—SlashAngemon


	2. Do You Hear What I Hear?

**Y/N:** Osamu was an interesting character to write. He was very different than either of his parents, and was far more passive than I imagined when I first started out to write as him. He took me by surprise, and while I feel like his character isn't as strong as he could have been, I think that's where his charm lies. He has room to grow. He's just a kid, you know? We don't want perfect characters. We want children that could have a long winding road ahead of them. I think Osamu really showcases that room for growth.

 **Title: Here Comes Santa Claus**

 **By: YukiraKing**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.**

 **Chapter 02: Do You Hear What I Hear?**

 _ **Osamu Ichijouji:**_

"Chika won't tell me who she got," Makoto complained. "She's being so stupid. It's just a pointless game that Louisa probably invented. I don't understand why she won't just tell me. She won't get a good present for whoever it is if she doesn't ask for advice. God, I feel sorry for whoever it is." He slammed his locker closed. It was the locker right next to mine. I was much gentler with my locker. It got stuck sometimes, which made it really annoying, and if I didn't close it _just_ right, then I couldn't get it open without finding the janitor, and I didn't like bothering him. I didn't like adding to his work load. He had enough to deal with, being the only janitor in the entire school. I had to do my part to help him out.

Not that I would _ever_ tell my friends that. They'd just make fun of me for it. I knew, because they made fun of Tenshi all the time for doing things like that. I didn't want to lose my friends just by voicing my opinions. So I never did. It wasn't _that_ bad. They all had loud enough opinions that they didn't seem to mind that I kept mine to myself. It was very relaxing that way. I didn't have to worry about being made fun of, or saying the wrong thing. It was nice, actually.

"God, I feel sorry for whoever's got you," Kaoru Kido sneered, as she sauntered passed. She was a pretty girl, but her snarky personality sort of out shone that. Her hair was wild and fun, and it was just as loud as her personality. She was always around, which I thought was funny, because she and Makoto did _not_ get along, at all.

"No one asked you, you eccentric porcupine!" Makoto snapped. She laughed and started turning the wheel on her lock to the right combination.

"I'm so nice that I can share my opinion without prompting," Kaoru assured him, a smirk forming on her face.

"You don't even know what we're talking about," Makoto complained, and then he turned to me. "She doesn't know, does she?"

"She can answer for herself, thank you very much," Kaoru told him, slamming her locker closed when she'd gotten her bag out of it. "And no, she doesn't. But she doesn't need to. Anyone would be unfortunate to have to deal with you."

"That's not even true," Makoto said, rolling his eyes. "I'm a star. People will be screaming my name in the future."

"Yeah," Kaoru snorted. "In horror."

"At least I'm not—" Makoto said, trying to spit out a comeback, but Kaoru put a finger against his lips, making him pause mid-insult.

"I would love to stay and chat, but…you know…I actually wouldn't," she said shrugging her shoulders, before disappearing in the onslaught of students. The school we attended in the Digital World had a slightly uneven blend of human to digimon for its population. There was one third human to two thirds digimon. But it was really awesome. How many other kids can say that their teacher is a centaur? Not many. I was so glad that I had Centarumon this year, instead of having Jijimon again. Jijimon was _fun_ , but I hadn't learned much. All of my friends were upset because they liked having fun and goofing off. I wanted to get a solid education though so that I could secure my future.

It was something I thought about a lot actually, since Mai had gone off to college and was already interning at the local newspaper. She'd known all her life what she wanted to do. She wanted to be a journalist, and her loud, demanding questions really taught me to keep my mouth shut. Before I'd learned my lesson, she'd made a habit of asking only really embarrassing questions, and I'd always reveal my inner secrets, thinking that she'd be nice and keep them, since she was my sister. But when she printed off a 'newsletter' that had a detailed expose about the crush I had on Ko Supea, and handed it out to all of my friends, I realized that it was a bad idea to share my thoughts with _anyone_.

And because I never talked to anyone about it, I kept internalizing all of my stress about not having any ideas about what I wanted to do in the future. I had time; I was just starting high school. But Mai had known when she was four that she wanted to be a 'fancy newspaper lady'—which she later discovered _wasn't_ the proper title and was devastated for an entire week.

Unlike Mai though, I didn't have any ideas.

I could have asked Mom and Dad about it, but that would involve taking up their time. I'd much rather play games as a family than take up their time for myself. There were four of us and only two of them. They deserved time to themselves too. They worked so hard to keep us fed and clothed, with a roof over our head, the least I could do was give up my share of their time so that they could see each other. It only seemed fair. I wasn't going to actually share my thoughts or opinions anyway, so it wasn't like they were missing out on much.

"She is just the most annoying girl I've ever met," Makoto complained. "And I live with Chika! I hate her."

"Kaoru?" I clarified.

"Duh," Makoto said. "Chika's freaking crazy, but she's my kid sister."

"We're talking about Chika?" Hiro asked as he and Nikko appeared out of nowhere. "Sounds like you missed out on the conversation, Nikko."

"Can we keep talking about her?" Nikko asked rather boyishly. The two of them walked down the hallway together. Hiro was the tallest, and his blonde hair really stood out—but mine was light purple so I couldn't say much. Nikko's hair was really wild, just like the old pictures of his dad. Everyone was waving to them as they walked by. We were pretty much the most popular guys in school. It was mostly due to the fact that we had Crests and two thirds of the student body were digimon that remembered our parents when _they_ had the Crests.

It seemed like a long time ago now that Mari handed me the Crest of Tenacity and told me to use it well. I hadn't had any reason to actually use it though, and I really doubted it would work for me. I was just too passive to be passable at being tenacious. I didn't have any desire to _not_ be passive though. I just kind of existed. It was very relaxing—even if I internalized my stress.

"Dude, that's my sister," Makoto said, brushing his obnoxiously long and voluminous hair from his face. It was a dramatic look, but he was able to pull it off because he was such a dramatic guy. He was all about acting. He claimed he would be a star someday, and I believed him—mostly because he was way too intense about his dream. I figured he had a step up on me, because he actually _had_ a dream, even if it was outlandish. If anyone could pull it off, it would be him.

"I know," Nikko said nonchalantly. "I just wanted to know if she had my name, you know, for the Secret Santa thing. I just kind of have the feeling she does. And if she does, I could probably tell you what I'd like."

"If you say the word _kiss_ , I'll hit you," Makoto warned him.

"Uh, no, that's not what I was going to say," Nikko protested. Hiro and I shared a look. That was _totally_ what Nikko was going to say. He had a thing for Chika, and Makoto hated it. Chika might confuse, frustrate and baffle him, but she was still his little sister, and he didn't want his _friend_ to be interested in her. I tried to understand, but it was pretty difficult, since Mai was so much older, and Josei was so much younger. There wasn't a _chance_ that they'd be interested.

I hoped so anyway.

"Let's get going," Hiro suggested, saving Nikko from a deeper interrogation by an irritated Makoto. "Elliot's probably already waiting for us. You know how he gets when we're late." We were only five minutes late last Friday, and I was sure his reaction was still fresh in all of our minds.

" _Wow, you guys showed up?" he said in mock surprise. "That's cool, but since I've been here for like_ ever _, I already have to go home, because I live on the opposite side of the world, and I have a long commute. But it's cool. I just traveled the globe so we could hang out together. You guys never do that. But I don't complain. I'm not even complaining now. I just have to get home before Mom and Dad send a search party out because I've been gone for so long."_

He was pretty much the most obnoxious guy I knew. But he was so funny at the same time that none of us really cared—and he was genuinely enjoyable to hang around with when he wasn't upset with us, or making a scene for attention. He did that sometimes. Makoto totally got into it too, and it was very embarrassing for me. They would go all out and improvise with each other, and the next thing I knew we'd have to take sides, and the rest of the week Makoto and Elliot wouldn't talk to each other. They weren't even mad. They were just dedicated to their audience. It was ridiculous.

But I never told them that. There wouldn't be any point. I'd just end up on the receiving end of a team-up dramatization, and I didn't think I could handle that without fainting or throwing up. I had issues with panic attacks. _Thanks_ Mom.

Hiro took the lead, and we all sort of moved through the hallways. It was still weird, that everyone got out of our way just because we were popular. I didn't understand. I also wasn't sure that _I_ was really popular like them. Nikko, Hiro and Makoto were pretty much universally well liked. It was insane how well they could charm a crowd if they wanted to. I was way too shy to do that. Some days, I thought I might fit in better with Tenshi, Kana and Renjiro, but I knew I'd miss my best friends too much.

There was a coffee shop just outside of the Temple. It was a pretty popular spot for kids to just hang out when school was done. We had a standing reservation—because it was run by Tapirmon and Makoto's grandmother. Elliot was already sipping a hot chocolate that he was pretending was coffee, just to seem mature and cool, when we got there. Makoto's grandma came over and gave us all a hot chocolate and told us to enjoy our _coffee_ , because she thought it was funny that we played pretend. I thought it was weird and pointless, but I didn't say anything.

If they wanted coffee though, they should've just ordered coffee.

I sipped my hot chocolate, and the others all started talking about the Secret Santa. Nikko demanded everyone reveal who they were buying gifts for, but Elliot stopped him.

"Seriously? That's like the only fun part about a Secret Santa," Elliot said. "Don't make it boring."

And Nikko decided not to press for any further information. That was good, because I didn't need for them to laugh about the person _I_ had to get a present for. I was probably going to get the wrong thing, but it wasn't easy getting something for Emiko. She was a grownup. She was _twenty-five_! What did you get for a twenty-five year old that had a job and could buy whatever she needed?

Nothing.

I was stressing about it, because I didn't want to be the one to give the worst present. Emiko was also very mean. She had been pranking Renjiro pretty much since he was born, and there was nothing Renjiro could do to stop it. I didn't want her to turn those particular talents in my direction. I'd probably pass out or cry or something. It would be embarrassing.

"I'm not really sure where Secret Santa came from," Elliot said. I realized only then that we'd attracted a group of curious students. There were two human girls with a Floramon, Gotsumon and Gekomon all leaning over excitedly. "But it's a pretty wicked tradition. It's popular in North America, I don't know if it is anywhere else. I've never actually done research on the subject. I don't think I ever will. But it's cool. You only have to buy one present this way too, and everyone gets a present in the end."

"Really?" Floramon asked, batting her eyes. She was totally flirting with him. Nikko nudged me in the ribs to tell me so, even though I figured it out on my own. Elliot was used to it though, because he was the aloof member of our group. He went to school in a different world—aka _Earth_ —and had a different accent. He also couldn't go anywhere without his backwards baseball cap and his sunglasses. He was the cool kid. He was the mysterious one. Everyone wanted a piece of him.

Until they got to know him and they realized he was arrogant and annoying and a goofball that was afraid of letting anyone know he actually cared. I knew all of that, and I still stuck around, and so did Nikko, Hiro and Makoto—but they were all just as wacky as Elliot. Sometimes it was exhausting being the quiet, mature, sane friend.

"Ew," Elliot sighed, looking towards the door. "It's Louisa."

"Aww…Tenshi," Hiro pouted. I followed their eyes and found Tenshi, Louisa, Kana and Renjiro were coming in the café. Hiro sneered at his brother, who didn't notice. Louisa glared over at us, because she didn't want to be hanging around Elliot either. We chugged the cold remainders of our hot chocolate and got up to wait outside while Makoto said goodbye to his grandmother. Once we were outside, we just walked around, wandering back to the Temple and perusing the streets with no real goal in mind. We always did that. It was nothing but a waste of time—consistently—but it was tradition. It also made sure that I didn't have a whole lot of time to do my homework, but I was used to that to.

Eventually, I had to say goodbye, because I had to get to dinner. We weren't allowed to be late. It was one of the few times in an average day that we all had to be together as a family. The others teased me about being a "goody-two-shoes" for listening to my mother, but obviously they'd never faced the wrath of Miyako Ichijouji. She was absolutely terrifying when she was in a bad mood.

They were going to continue wasting time—which I was bummed about missing—and I headed back home. Mom was putting dinner on the table when I got there, flashing through the computer as I travelled between worlds.

"Took your time today," Mom commented, setting the salt and pepper shakers out of reach of Josei's chair, because she liked to shake them over her food, but didn't actually like the taste of either, and would refuse to eat whatever she'd seasoned. I shrugged, and headed to the kitchen and grabbed plates, forks and knives, and got to work on setting the table. Mom never asked for me to do it, but at some point or other, I just started doing it because I was bored, and it had become my unofficial chore. I didn't protest. I could offer that much assistance at least, if it meant I wouldn't ever have to actually _cook_ the meal. "How was school?"

"Cool," I said. "Centarumon was talking about the Crests. It was really interesting. I didn't know where they came from. It was pretty cool to learn about it."

"That's nice," Mom said with a smile. "I remember learning about that. Centarumon couldn't tell us. I wish he could have. It would have made things so much easier."

"Cool," I said again. I was starting to think that it sounded really lame, but I couldn't come up with any other word to use in its place, so I didn't bother swapping it out. I said "Cool" several more times while Mom was explaining the exact same thing that Centarumon taught me already that day. She was smiling though, so I didn't want to stop her. It was so rare that she and I had any one on one time like this, since I was one of four—and Josei demanded a _lot_ of attention.

We used to be together a lot, back before Taro was born, and when I was too little to go to school. Mai was excited about exploring the world of education, but I liked being at home and having Mom all to myself. I was obviously too old to admit stuff like that now, since it was embarrassing, but that feeling never really went away.

" _What are we going to do today, little man?" Mom asked once Mai had been deposited at the school, and I had her all to myself. She didn't need to ask though, because she knew what my answer was going to be. I was three years old at the time, and I loved reading more than anything else in the world._

 _I couldn't_ actually _read, because I was only three years old, but I liked to think that I could. And Mom never corrected me either._

" _Do you want to….play hide and seek?" she asked teasingly. I shook my head quickly. "Do you want to paint a picture?" I crinkled my nose. I wasn't good at art. I tried to draw Stingmon for my Dad once, and he asked me if it was a hippopotamus. I cried for half an hour before deciding art was too embarrassing for me. "What about….the dishes?"_

" _No!" I protested wildly._

" _What should we do then?" she asked, pretending to be confused._

" _Story time!" I cried. I ran to grab the book I always read. The story never ended up the same, and Mom jokingly referred to it as the magic book. I sat on the couch and waited for Mom to catch up. I pat the cushion excitedly when I caught sight of her. She laughed and settled in next to me. I opened the book so that it was resting on both of our laps, and just before I could launch into a story about pirates and potatoes, Mom had to ruin everything by sighing._

" _I don't know what I'll do when you go to school next year," she murmured. My whole world shattered. I didn't know I was going to have to go to school too. I thought it was just a way to get rid of Mai so I could have fun without her around to take all of the attention. My pirates turned to lonely cats that were forced to go to school when they didn't want to, and how they would never be happy again._

 _I ended up crying for hours, and Mom couldn't get me out of my funk._

And I would _never_ tell anyone about that particular day, for fear of embarrassing myself to death. I didn't want my friends to think I was a Mama's boy, but I kind of was. She didn't have a lot of time for me, because she worked full time and had four kids, and I understood that. But I also silently cherished every moment that she could offer me.

But then Josei would inevitably walk into the room and spoil it all with her obnoxious six year old prattle, just as she did right then. She was wearing a fuzzy pink sweater and hot pink tights under a pair of white shorts. They were play clothes, definitely not something she could wear out in the winter air, and the outfit was so _loud_ that it made my eyes hurt. Mom laughed quietly, rolling her eyes. But she couldn't say much. She was wearing lime green, turquoise and red. And they _weren't_ play clothes.

"Mommy," Josei declared, when she realized she was the centre of attention—her favourite place to be. She adjusted her oversized glasses, and tilted her head so her pale violet pigtails flopped through the air. "Who is my Secret Santa?"

"I don't know, Josei," Mom said with a smile. Josei asked every day, probably thinking that Mom and Dad were magic, and would eventually figure it out for her. I knew that I used to believe they were made of magic. It was another thing that I thought was too embarrassing to mention.

"Find out!" Josei demanded. "I want a pink present. Pink is the best. Pink is my favourite. Everyone knows that. It will be pink, right?"

"Probably," I muttered. I contemplated making sure her present was orange or something, but I knew I would never go through with it. I wasn't looking to get in trouble, and that would inevitably happen if Mom found out. She knew everything. She didn't just have eyes on the back of her head. I swear she had surveillance cameras in every room of the house. We couldn't get away with anything!

"Where's Mai?" Mom asked, glancing at the clock. Dad was in the garage. I could hear him trying to change the car's tires for the winter, and he was _not_ succeeding on his own. He wasn't good with tools. He was better with his gun—not that he would tell us if he ever shot anyone with it. He was boring like that. I was happy with his decision because I wasn't sure I really wanted to know.

"I'm here!" Mai called, opening the front door, as if on cue. Taro slinked into the room and sat at his chair. Mom didn't even notice him, and nearly shrieked when she turned in his direction. Dad finally gave up on his tires, and I figured Mai and I would get suckered in to being his helpers later. "I had a crazy day at school today. It totally made up for how boring my internship is." She complained about her internship a lot, because all she was ever asked to do was make photocopies and deliver notices to the actual journalists. She was so close to experiencing her dream, and it was just being dangled in front of her face like a carrot. I didn't like seeing her so unhappy, but I didn't know how to fix it, and she probably didn't want her little brother sticking his nose in her business anyway.

"What happened at school?" Taro inquired sounding genuinely interested.

"Do you mind if I eat later, Mom?" Mai asked. "I've really got to finish these reports. I thought I'd have the rest of the week for them, but I got assigned three more today and they're all due pretty much at the same time."

"Just this once," Mom decided, not looking happy about it. But she wasn't telling the truth anyway. Mai had been excused three times over the last week alone. No one else had ever _dared_ to ask to miss dinner. It was family time. But Mai was a grownup now, and Mom was always giving her leeway. "I don't want you to fail. But tomorrow you better have your butt in your chair, Missy."

"Thanks Mom," Mai called, before racing up the stairs. Taro just looked at his plate and sighed.

"Do _you_ have my name, Osamu?" Josei asked. I groaned. It was going to be a long wait until this Secret Santa thing was over with. I shook my head and sat down.

"Can you pass the juice?" I asked Mom, who poured me a glass and handed it to me.

"Are you _sure_?" Josei asked, narrowing her eyes at me like I might be lying to her. I sighed and put my head against the table—only to receive a sharp reprimand "get your face off your plate, Osamu"—groaning at my sister's antics. It was going to be a _really_ long wait.

 **Featured Evolution Line: Osamu:** Leafmon—Minomon—Fanbeemon—Waspmon—MetallifeKuwagamon—BanchoStingmon


	3. How To Catch A Liar

**U/N:** So this is my first chapter in the kid's perspectives. I mean I wrote an Emiko one shot forever ago, but this is my first one here at least. And fittingly, it's Jou's kid. Jou was the first character I wrote for the series as a whole, so there you go. Uh, well I guess this is Renjiro, and he was kind of fun. We worked pretty diligently on giving each of the children a different personality from each other and from the characters we've seen so far. We also were pretty serious about their plot lines, but as I've mentioned before, they were originally going to be in a legitimate trilogy series that we just decided against writing for obvious reasons. Anyway, so here's this, I hope you like it. I'm not a big Christmas person myself, but I guess I like Christmas _music_ which is pretty much enough to get the Christmas mood going. I dunno. Anyway, here you go.

 **Title: Here Comes Santa Claus**

 **By: UrazamayKing**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.**

 **Chapter 03: How To Catch A Liar**

 _ **Renjiro Kido:**_

"Here you are, little brother," Emiko said in such a dramatic voice as she held her arm out rigidly in front of her. In her hand were two shimmering slips of paper that she was offering to me. It seemed suspicious that they were free, and I was expecting something to go wrong. Perhaps when I took them it would enrage Monmon and he would attack me again, or there was glue on my end of the paper and they would stick to my hands. Whatever the ploy was, I was sure she didn't expect me to fall for it.

So, I ignored her, turning away and returning to the computer set on the table in front of me.

"Uh, hello?" Emiko asked, sounding rather annoyed. I didn't buy it; she could change her tone easily to help make any scheme go more smoothly. "Renjiro? I'm talking to you!"

I sighed and let my fingers hover over the keys of the computer. I finally turned to look up to her again and saw genuine annoyance on her face. That was odd. Her facial acting always needed more work. "Right now I am preparing my essays to send away to universities, Emiko. I don't have time for your games. Go prank Dad or something."

"I already _did_ prank Dad," Emiko sighed, her shoulders drooping. "He just didn't notice."

"Mayonnaise in the shampoo bottle," I guessed easily.

She laughed and nodded her head with a faraway look etched into her eyes as if remembering a fond old memory. "Yeah," she heaved a deep sigh and then turned back to me. "Whatever, this isn't a prank you twerp, these are tickets to my show. I want you go come."

"Oh!" I turned to her, finally giving her my full attention. Emiko had only been going on and on about the show for months. She didn't even live with us anymore—though she did still live in the Digital World portion of our house which was now essentially closed off to us because she had taken claim over it all—and I had still grown weary of her babbling. I never complained though. Her dancing was something she loved and she had been in many shows, and even went on tour as some popular singer's backup dancer. I was never allowed to go because it had been too 'risqué' for me at the time, which was just silly, because it had only been three years prior and I was eighteen now. Fifteen was plenty old to see anything. My solid argument for everything—which was 'Dad, you were thrown into a dramatic adventure at the age of twelve, I can do...' and the blank would be filled in with _whatever_ it was I wanted to do—hadn't worked even, so this was one of the first times I would be able to actually see my sister in action. I reached out and took the tickets, realizing now that there were two. "You're not going to make me pick which parent I bring are you?" I asked in horror.

"Oh that would be _good_ ," Emiko said with a diabolical smirk, "but no, the other one is for Kana." I felt my face flush and I diverted my eyes. "You don't have to look like a wounded puppy whenever someone says her name," Emiko groaned as she lazily slunk across the kitchen floor to the cupboards. She found a bag of chips and she jumped up to reach it better. When she still could not reach, Monmon moved quickly and leapt from the refrigerator to get it for her. She smiled to him and then turned back to me, opening the bag. "She's your girlfriend, right? So flaunt that. Unless some cute girl has something you want. Then you flirt with her—but never cheat—because then you get what you want and it's amazing. Make sure she's cool with that though."

As usual Emiko showed exactly _zero_ signs that she understood even the tiniest bit of my personality, and so I turned away. I had my tickets and I would support her, there was nothing more to be said, and I really _did_ have to work on the essays.

A moment into my writing I felt a presence behind me and knew Emiko had come nearer. And then there was a loud chomping right in my ear and I sighed, folding my hands on the counter in front of my laptop. I looked over my shoulder to Emiko who beamed down at me and held out the bag of chips to me, offering me some.

Figuring she would leave if I played along, I reached my hand into the bag and immediately jumped back, retracting my hand sharply. Inside the bag was some kind of black sludgy substance. I looked to my hand as some of the droopy liquid spilled onto the floor by my feet and then back to Emiko who was laughing.

" _How_ did you do that?" I asked, trying to understand. I had just seen her open the chip bag! I had heard her eating them! And then my eyes fell to Monmon on her shoulder who was holding the recently opened bag and eating chips all the while. I groaned and turned to the sink as Emiko and Monmon headed for the door, likely plotting something against Mom or Bukamon, but likely not Bearmon who wasn't afraid to bite back—literally.

Emiko stopped in the doorway and turned back, pointing to me, "Don't miss my show. It's the seventeenth."

I hesitated as my hand rested under the running warm water, realizing there may be an issue there. "B-but—" I turned and saw that Emiko was already furious. "That's the day of Tenshi's audition."

She cocked her head to the side and her eyebrows flew ten miles high. "Oh, so your friend's _audition_ is more important than your dear sister's very first ballet performance?"

I weighed the options in my head and sighed. "I guess not." I had to admit that she had a point. Besides, no matter how important Tenshi's audition _was_ , I knew it was also not the final callback. He would have to go back one more time if they let him continue. I was excited for him though. He was a year younger than Kana and I but was just as dedicated to getting into post secondary schooling as the two of us were. His cello skills were impeccable now and he was genuinely in the running to be permitted into one of the most prestigious music schools in all the world. Probably in all _nine_ worlds. "I'll be there, I promise," I told Emiko. "I'm sure Tenshi will understand."

Emiko beamed joyously and then gestured to the window above the sink. "Also, your girlfriend's here."

"Wait, what?" I asked, looking out the window and saw that Emiko was right. Kana was marching her way down the driveway politely walking right down the middle. She was wearing her school bag which could only mean that she was here for homework—but there was something unusually chipper in the way she was smiling. I hurriedly finished washing my hands and my heart dropped when Mom walked in the room. I never much enjoyed her being around when Kana was. She was too... _mom-_ like, for lack of a better term and I always felt rather pressured to be polite and respectable, if I wasn't that way already.

I tried to be, but I was pretty clumsy. I guess I took after my dad. Or that's what Mom always said, but I had heard the story of their first date. It seemed pretty likely to me that I inherited the awkwardness from both the Inoue and Kido bloodlines.

Kana grabbed the sliding side door and slid it open without knocking. It was a typical thing for her to do since she had come to our house every day for the past twelve years straight, but because of her mother's teachings she had been so polite and it had taken quite a long time for my mom to convince her that it was okay to just come right in.

Kana's eyes darted to me the moment she entered the room but she turned to my mother and bowed politely before shutting the door behind her. "Hello Mrs Kido, how are you this evening?"

Mom smiled in a way only she could and placed a bowl into the sink before looking over to Kana, "I'm quite alright, how are you doing Miss Hida?"

Kana blushed and turned away, pushing her hair behind her ear, "I'm actually really nervous." Mom looked to me for more information but I didn't know. We both gave Kana our complete attention and watched as she pulled her backpack off and set it on the counter by my computer. She opened it up and pulled out a thick yellowish envelope that was about the size of my textbook. "It's my acceptance letter."

Mom looked like she was ready to explode with excitement, "You seem so sure it's an acceptance!"

"I hope so," Kana nodded, looking back to the envelope, "but that's why I'm nervous."

Mom looked to me in that way she did when she was trying to tell me something. I knew she wanted me to comfort Kana and be there for her—which I _would_ be, I didn't need her to point it out to me. I widened my eyes and gave her the most childish look I could and she threw her hands up in surrender. "Okay, I give up," she began backing away toward the door, "Good luck," she shot to Kana before disappearing.

I hurried to Kana's side and looked to the envelope. It was pretty packed. They wouldn't send so much just to say 'no' right? I saw that the corners of the envelope had been bent back several times like she had contemplated opening it again and again. She looked to me, worried, but I nodded my head and then all at once, with her eyes shut tight, she ripped the top off.

It was rather anticlimactic. I had half expected a dancing monkey toy to pop out and sing a song to congratulate her, but as it was, there was still more to do to build our anticipation. Kana wasn't patient though and she grabbed the contents and tugged them right out of the envelope, thrusting them in my face. "You have to read it!"

I nodded without thinking and took them from her hands, scanning the words. "Kana," I said, reading them over one more time with a tinge of jealousy. She looked up worriedly, so I flashed her my biggest smile, "You got in," I told her.

Her reaction came in three parts. First her shoulders fell in a sense of relief, but then her face lit up with true realization and then all at once her fists pumped into the sky and she let out a loud, triumphant, "YEAH BABY!" She began laughing as she lunged forward and threw her arms around my neck, kissing me. It always surprised me when she did that, but it wasn't unwelcome. She was grinning again as she began dancing around the room in a way that almost looked like she wanted me to join in her one woman conga line. I loved how the two most prominent sides of her were so very different. She was so unpredictable and amazing.

But all at once she stopped. There was a moment of pause and I understood why. We looked to each other and then she held up her acceptance letter once more to look at it. "I-I'm sure yours is on the way, right?"

"R-right," I nodded, trying to smile. I was happy for her. I had never been this happy for her. We had worked toward this moment together for several years and now it had come for her. I could not put a damper on it with my own worry that I may not get to join in that joy soon enough. I decided to change the subject before she began questioning me. "Emiko gave us tickets to her show!" I blurted the words rather foolishly and reached for the tickets on the counter, offering one to Kana.

She looked it over and smiled. "Ooh, The Nutcracker, that sounds dramatic," she grinned up at me. She began reading all of the details, since she was Kana and being 'detail oriented' was the first thing on her resume—both her personal and her professional ones. "Oh it's on Tenshi's audition day. We'd better let him know we can't come. This is a big deal. It's the school of his dreams."

I nodded awkwardly, feeling the conversation coming full circle back to my missing acceptance letter. I had already internally panicked in the three and a half seconds it had taken for Kana to read the ticket and decided that the reason I hadn't received my acceptance yet was because it wasn't coming. I hadn't gotten in and Kana and I were going to have to break up because we wouldn't be going to the same school and she would fall in love with some athletic tanned guy who talked in a cool foreign accent and I'd be at home alone drowning in a puddle of my own tears of failure.

We had been together for so long already. We couldn't break up now!

" _Hey Kana," I had said, my voice catching in my throat. I began coughing loudly and Kana looked panicked and startled, clapping my back to help me. She offered me some water from the bottle in her hand but I shook her off. "No—no, I'm fine." She nodded but seemed unsure. "I want to talk to you."_

" _Sure, of course," she agreed, relaxing now that I had caught my breath._

" _You're my best friend," I told her, my nerves getting the best of me. I could feel my legs shaking and I crammed my hands into my pockets to ensure she wouldn't see how much they were sweating._

" _I know," she smiled, "You're my best friend too. And you're the best lab partner ever. We're definitely going to win this science fair."_

 _I looked around to the other stations and was glad to see that we were still the only ones here. Kana had insisted we arrive twelve hours early just to ensure that everything ran smoothly._ I _was not running smoothly. "R-right," I nodded. "I just want you to know that you're my_ best- _best friend and that you're the most important human being to me. I specified human because Bukamon's pretty amazing."_

 _Kana smiled and nodded, "I got that, actually."_

" _And I was wondering if you'd want to be_ more _than just lab partners?" Kana froze at my words and her water bottle slipped from her hand and fell onto the table, smashing into the button that we had prepared for our show. A moment later chemical reactions had set off from every which way and bubbles shot out at every angle all around us and then a moment later they had all been turned to ice from the reaction to the oxygen in the air and they fell apart, turning into small flakes of ice and snow raining down around us._

 _Kana stared to me through the snow as it fell around us and blinked twice before nodding, her face bright red. I felt relief pour through my body and I sighed, leaning back. Kana stepped toward me and kissed my cheek. Then, "The lasers didn't shoot, the proton accelerator didn't do it's job and the magma stayed put. That's weird. We have a lot of work to do. Good thing we're here early."_

I decided that it was time to change the mood of the day entirely. I slammed my computer shut and said finally, "Let's go shopping."

"Perfect!" Kana agreed excitedly, "We have to do that Secret Santa thing for Louisa." I rolled my eyes. It was common knowledge—at least to her closest friends, which I was proud to say included me and Kana and the only other person in her inner circle was Tenshi—that the only reason she had started the Secret Santa at all was so she could either receive a present from Haruki Motomiya, or to give one to him instead. She had tried to trade with me, thinking I might have him, but it was against _her_ rules to let her see who we had, so she was stuck with whatever 'unacceptable' person she had drawn from the hat. It had been obvious to us since she was eleven years old that she had a crush on Haruki and yet it had taken this long for her to act on it, or so it seemed. I could remember the first moment I knew she was in love.

" _Louisa," Haruki said, "I'm really sorry for pushing you over."_

" _You're a jerk, Haruki," Louisa said bitterly, crossing her arms and turning her head away._

 _Haruki held out a hand to her, "My mom is about to have a baby, and you have to come see. I don't have anyone to wait with and I know how much you love babies."_

 _Louisa looked up to the boy who was still reaching to help her to her feet and she nodded, reaching up. He hoisted her to her feet and began dragging her across the field. Louisa looked over her shoulder to Kana, Tenshi and I and we all smiled as the two of them hurried toward the hospital_.

It was like a light had clicked in her mind. He knew a single fact about her and so they were soul mates. That was how simple her logic seemed to be anyway. I wasn't entirely sure how she worked that out in her mind, but I wasn't sure I would _ever_ understand Louisa.

But today Louisa was nowhere to be found. Kana, Bukamon and I were in the mall alone together, and even though there were _plenty_ of things to keep my mind off of the idea that I wouldn't be going to school with the only girl who I had ever _wanted_ to have feelings for—and the only person I had ever called my best friend—I just couldn't stop my mind from wandering in that direction.

Then finally, Kana stopped in front of the brightest flashiest store in the entire mall. Bukamon looked up to the sign from where he sat in my arms. He didn't seem particularly excited to go inside. "I'll probably pick a dumb present anyway..." he had said. Kana gently rubbed the top of his head. Sometimes I had to just sit and wonder why Hideto ever thought the crest of pride made any sense for me. Even Bukamon had no confidence. The two of us together were like the least proactive team ever because neither of us seemed to have any hope that we would accomplish anything at all. But we had to keep trying—because the fate of the worlds rested in our hands, supposedly. I had done extensive research on the idea and had yet to figure out _how_ exactly that was the case. It all came back to the Cycle of the Crests of course.

Kana was already making her way down the aisles, so Bukamon sighed, and nodded up to me, telling me he was ready, and so I followed after her, squeezing through the crowd. I caught up to her at the end of the first aisle and she was looking at some colourful powder that was meant to change the colour of a fire. She hummed thoughtfully for a moment and then put it back on the shelf. "We'll need a present for Emiko, right?" she asked.

Wait. How did she know who I had drawn from the hat? "Why?" I asked suspiciously.

Kana's face flushed, "B-because she's your sister! You need a present for her, right?" I nodded, feeling relieved. I didn't think it mattered _too_ much if she knew I had drawn my sister from the hat, but I just didn't feel great about being so obvious about it. I wanted to be able to keep a secret, even if I'd never willingly do so from Kana. "Do you think she'd like this?" Kana asked holding up an ornate box that held seven different whoopee cushions. I shook my head and Kana sighed, looking through the discount bin. I knew neither of us were short on money, but I was also sure Emiko didn't need anything too expensive. I wondered if there was a price limit on the Secret Santa thing. Probably not with how successful all of our parents were. Surely we would be asked expected to buy expensive gifts.

Kana and I made our way down the aisle and I stopped momentarily, when I noticed Bukamon eyeing up a flashy ball that was designed to follow movement. That could be annoying, which meant I knew Emiko would _love_ it. I was checking the price when I noticed Kana toss something into the silver basket that hung from her wrist. I looked closer but she had moved the basket behind her and I saw nothing. Kana was looking weird. She was amazing, but she was a terrible actor.

"What's that?" I asked.

Kana turned to me and pretended to be shocked, but at the blankness of my stare she sighed, and showed me the basket. I looked in and saw an entire set of realistic looking pens that were all made to shock the user. I smirked. It was a perfect gift for Emiko. "Good idea," I agreed, "she'll love that." Kana forced a smile and nodded. Then it hit me. Why was she hiding that from me if it was _my_ gift to Emiko? I tried to think who else might enjoy the present—who else could Kana have in the draw? Perhaps she had developed a rival, or a nemesis without telling me and secretly was plotting revenge. But that seemed unlikely.

I was suspicious.

I was suspicious because it involved my _sister_.

I reached for the weird, annoying ball. "I'm buying this for the draw," I told her as casually as I could. "The person I have is going to love it." Kana looked suspicious now too and I knew my apprehensive nature had proven useful once again. "Kana, are you Emiko's Secret Santa?"

She sighed loudly and her shoulders drooped dramatically. "Yeah!" she cried out. "Was I _that_ obvious?"

I felt my nose crinkle up as I tried to think of an explanation for it all. It was possible that her name had accidentally been placed in the hat twice, right? Then it became more troubling when I remembered that _she_ had been the one to write the names for the draw.

I whipped my phone out and called Tenshi immediately. He picked up without hesitation. "Hello!" he said, sounding rather pleased to hear someone's voice. He had probably been practicing his cello, and forgotten what it was like to have human interaction again. "To what can I owe the pleasure of this call?"

"Tenshi, who did you get in the Secret Santa draw?" I asked sharply. Kana looked confused now but leaned closer to hear into the phone. The store was loud though, and I was sure she wouldn't be able to hear his response.

"Uh," Tenshi hesitated, "I'm sure we're not supposed to say—"

"It's Emiko, isn't it?" I asked sharply.

Tenshi was silent for a moment. Then, in a quiet voice, he muttered, "Yes."

I hung up the phone immediately and reached into Kana's basket, hanging the pens back up. I grabbed her hand and dragged her from the store, dropping the silver basket in the bin on the way out. Kana and Bukamon were confused and wanted to know what was going on, but I didn't explain right away. Instead I made my way to the Drop-Off center and began pressing the right buttons, entering the pass code to Emiko's computer in her house. And then the light enveloped the three of us and we all appeared in Emiko's kitchen where Azura was doing the dishes, looking to us all rather confused. "Where's—"

"Living room," he cut in. I nodded my thanks and followed his directions, entering the living room with my arms crossed. I stood in the doorway, looking down to Emiko who laying in a pile of unfolded laundry, with a lollipop hanging out of her mouth.

She caught sight of me and looked up, eventually spinning herself around so she was sitting. She pulled the candy from her mouth and cocked her head again, confused. "What's up?" I tightened my arms, crossing them more firmly across my chest and let my eyebrows move higher.

Emiko realized what I was here for and she let out a sad kind of laugh. "It was worth a shot, right?" she asked feebly.

 **Featured Evolution Line: Renjiro:** Pichimon—Bukamon—Crabmon—Dolphmon—Divermon—MarineAngemon


	4. A Work Of Art

**Y/N:** Makoto is a brat. He's a lot like child Mimi-without any of her endearing personality. He was very annoying, and I tried to make him somewhat relatable, but he's still really not. He was a fun character though, despite his many flaws. I enjoyed playing around with the different personalities of the kids. I wanted them to be as different from their parents and each other as I could get them. I'm not sure anyone will like Makoto, but I hope you at least like his narration. :D

 **Title: Here Comes Santa Claus**

 **By: YukiraKing**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.**

 **Chapter 04: A Work of Art**

 _ **Makoto Izumi:**_

"What do you want to do?" I asked Osamu, falling back dramatically onto the couch in my living room. It was an old couch, and according to Gran it seriously needed replacing. Mom didn't like listening to her mother's advice and so she was stubbornly _not_ listening to what was obviously the superior opinion. But it didn't matter. It was comfortable, sort of. I wiggled myself around, trying to find a position that was visually dynamic, and didn't make me look like a loser. It was hard for me to ever actually look like a loser, but that didn't mean I could stop putting forth the effort. I was an actor, and I had to take every opportunity for practice. I spent every second of my life trying to live as grandly as possible, sparing no expense while I continued to work on my craft.

"I don't know," Osamu said, as I knew he would. "What do _you_ want to do?"

"I asked _you_ ," I sighed. He was always like that. The others liked it, because they were full of themselves, but I wasn't. Okay, I totally was, but I needed a little more to work with. It was hard to practice improvisation with an unhelpful partner. Osamu didn't particularly like sharing his opinions. I wasn't sure if the others had really noticed just how infrequently Osamu spoke his own mind. But he didn't do it often. That was fine, whatever. It was his life and he could make whatever choices he wanted to. I wasn't going to stifle his independence. That would be a crime. But it made it extraordinarily hard for me to think of what to give him for the Secret Santa. We all needed to go back to the Temple courtyard, where Neo had been forced to write out all of our names because he wouldn't lie, and we could be sure that all the names were there.

Stupid Emiko.

I'd already gotten her present. It wasn't hard. She was a prankster. She loved pranks, and what better gift to give than a gag gift? I put a bunch of paper through the shredder and stuffed the shredded pieces into a gift bag. It was going to be hilarious. She would have searched through that bag for a present and never found one, because the paper _was_ the present. I had the scene scripted out in my head already. But now, thanks to Emiko's stupid selfishness and mean spirited nature, I had to draw a new name and I got the hardest person ever to get presents for: Osamu.

There weren't any scenes being blocked out in my mind for _him_. He wouldn't even make a suggestion of what to do after school. I'd offered up my house, since Mom was working at her restaurant, and Dad was in his office, and wouldn't be coming out for anything. He never did. It was perfect. Chika was even over at the Ishida house, and was out of my hair. I had the perfect setting for _something_ to happen. And I was wasting it all trying to figure out what to get for Osamu. I couldn't ask him. It was against the rules. Louisa was pretty unbearable about it all.

" _Now, Emiko, what you did was very cruel and very bad, but really, I have to wonder how anyone found out. There was only one rule, people. You aren't supposed to tell anyone whose name you've got. It's really simple. And you failed! Emiko was bad, but so were the rest of you."_

I hadn't even bothered to find out who anyone else had. So long as Chika didn't give a kiss to Nikko because she somehow managed to get his name, then I didn't really care. I didn't really care too much about this Secret Santa thing at all. It was weird and pointless. It was almost mean, making us get presents for random people. It was a test to see how well we knew each other, and I was going to fail because Osamu wouldn't open his mouth and just _want_ something. I could see it now.

" _So, I think Chika might have your name, Osamu. I don't know for sure, but just in case she does, what do you want?" I would ask, casually, not leaving any hint whatsoever that it was me that really needed to know._

" _I don't know," he would say, because he was always unhelpful like that, "If you could give me my own opinions that would be splendid."_

Even in the fantasy of my own mind Osamu didn't have any useful information to share with me. It was absolutely horrible. I was at my wit's end.

"I don't know about you," Nikko said, looking between my torture expression and Osamu's blank face, realizing that there was no headway being made. "I think I'd like to explore the house."

"We did that when we were six," Elliot said, sounding bored by the idea. "We know where everything is. It would be a waste of time."

"I don't know," Nikko said. "We could start with say...Chika's room, and see where we go from there."

"Seriously?" Hiro asked with a snort. "That's not even subtle at all."

"That's not happening," I assured everyone.

"Okay, listen," Nikko said. "It's not for some nefarious purpose. I just need to know what she's interested in. I've got her name for the Secret Santa, and I need to find the perfect present. It needs to be so perfect that she literally falls in love with me."

"Are you trying to convince me to help you?" I asked, seriously thinking he'd lost his mind. He had to have, if he ever thought that as going to work. I might actually vomit if he actually integrated himself into my life in that way. Chika was two years younger than us, and she was a free spirit and she was naive. She was my precious baby sister—according to Gran—and it was my duty to protect her from the evils of the male half of the species. Having known Nikko on a rather deep level for the majority of our lives, I knew that he was _not_ a person I really wanted my sister to be exposed to.

"You've got to help me. I'm trying to make her Christmas special!" Nikko cried, throwing himself on his knees before me, playing towards my dramatic side. I was a bad brother, because I was falling for his tricks. They were obvious, but he put his all into it. I was a sucker for things like that.

"Five minutes," I said. My voice was deep and threatening. He knew he had specifically just five minutes. I would be timing him. He grinned and hopped to his feet, and started running towards the stairs. Elliot looked to me surprised before he started racing after him. Hiro was quick to follow on their heels, and Osamu lingered, waiting for me. I sighed and started counting the seconds, before pulling myself off the couch and to my feet. I stretched down to my toes, to keep myself limber. Gran was always commending me for my continued efforts. It had been her idea to involve me with dance classes to give me even more motivation. She actually got me involved in all of my classes—improvisation, jazz, tap, ballet, modern dancing, choir, glee. I was in all the classes she thought would help me achieve my dream of being a triple threat on the stage and screen.

It helped that Gran was the instructor for most of my beginner classes. Mom felt a lot more comfortable sending me to classes all by myself when I was so young, knowing that Gran was there to watch over me. Mom didn't want to stomp on my dreams, even though they were pretty much the opposite of what hers had been. She sometimes complained to Dad that Gran was trying to live vicariously through me, and if that was the case, I applauded her for it. I would want to live my life too—if I was someone else and not already me. I was amazing. Gran told me like every time I saw her. She was so proud of the actor I was growing into. I remembered the first shining moment in what was sure to be an illustrious career.

" _I'm not particularly interested," Dad told me, awkwardly. But I wasn't going to have that. There was no way I was going to be the only kid that showed up without my parent. I knew that all the other kids were bringing their mothers. I knew that I would be even more different now, seeing as I was one of two guys in the class. But I could pull off different. Dansu was already planning on abandoning me, and leaving me to be the only male. But I wasn't going to let that get the better of me. I didn't need anyone else to make me feel confident. Gran provided me with enough confidence that I barely even needed to try._

" _You don't love me!" I sobbed, instantly breaking into flawless tears. I was always pretty good at that particular action, even when I was only six. "Gran said you wouldn't come. But I said you would. I said you loved me, and you would help me. But she was right! You_ don't _."_

" _She said what now?" Dad said, instantly perking up. His brow furrowed, and I knew I had it in the bag. "You know what, I think I can rearrange my schedule."_

" _I_ knew _you wouldn't let me down!" I cried, letting my tears dry up as I jumped into his lap and hugged him tightly. "You'll like it. You could be a good ballerina."_

" _Wait, ballet?"_

It was pretty hilarious to see Dad trying to do ballet. It was even funnier to see Gran's face when Dad walked into the studio. She was flabbergasted. She never thought I could talk him into it. She and Dad were frosty to each other throughout the entire rehearsal, because of my conniving, but still, I was amazing. It was the moment when I knew I would be able to pull this acting thing off.

"Do you think Chika would appreciate him looking through all of her stuff?" Osamu asked softly, surprising me. He hardly ever spoke up.

"Probably not," I sighed. "But it's not going to stop him."

"Will he find anything?" Osamu asked.

"Yeah," I said. "She's decided to live in a desert."

"..."

"Yeah," I snorted, as I opened the door. The other three guys were searching through all of Chika's stuff. Hiro was looking through her necklaces and bobbles that Gran had given her. Grandma had helped Chika paint all of her picture frames yellow, and added sand to the paint for texture. Mom and Chika painted the walls to look like large yellow stones, piled up on top of each other, making it look like this room was in the centre of a pyramid. The floor was covered in sand. Literally, the floor was a sea of sand, and it got everywhere whenever Chika left her room. She tracked it around with her. It was horrible. The rest of the room was decorated with light woods—the dresser, bed frame, shelves—and white—her sheets and curtains and the like. It was very open and airy.

It was also crazy.

But so was Chika, so it made sense.

"Huh," Osamu said, looking to Elliot, who was going through Chika's drawers. Nikko swatted at him, not wanting to invade Chika's privacy _too_ much. I rolled my eyes. He was looking through the books on her shelves. They were all books catered to her newest obsession with ancient Egypt.

"What should I get her?" Nikko complained.

"Something from Egypt," Elliot said, rolling his eyes. It was an obvious answer, it was also pretty much impossible at this point in time. There wasn't all that long until Christmas. It was the fourteenth already. How was Nikko meant to convince his parents to let him go to Egypt in just ten days? Short answer: he couldn't.

"I could get a piece of a pyramid," Nikko suggested half-heartedly.

"Yeah," I said sarcastically. "You could use the Time key while you're at it and get something before it became ancient."

"That's perfect!" Nikko shouted. He ran over to hug me, and I stepped out of the way. I wasn't going to let him trick himself into thinking I supported his decisions. I wasn't interested in going to ancient Egypt for my kid sister's present.

Thankfully, there was a holler from downstairs, as Dad called for me to answer the door. Once I heard his call, I realized he was right. I raced down the steps and flicked the lock, before opening the door, only to be met with the sight of Chika grinning up at me.

"Where's your key?" I asked.

"Mom took it," she said. "I lost it too many times."

"Okay..." I said, trailing off when I noticed the three people waiting behind her. Being the courteous guy that I was, I let them in out of the cold, before shutting and locking the door behind them to keep the riffraff out. "Hey Sora, Shouta...Aika."

"Hello Makoto," Sora said pleasantly. "Your father's in his office, right?"

"Where he always is," I told her, nodding. She smiled at me and slipped off her shoes, before heading directly towards my father. Shouta lingered in the doorway, not knowing what to do before he just kicked off his shoes and sat on the couch, staring at his stripy socks and not saying a word. Chika offered to take Aika's coat, and threw it on the floor with her own. It was her version of hanging things up—she still couldn't reach the top of the coat rack. She was short—almost obnoxiously so.

"You should come see my room!" Chika told Aika excitedly. "I'm very impressed with how well it turned out. I like it a lot. And if I bring water to bed at night, I can use my flashlight and build sandcastles, and no one notices."

"Sounds cool," Aika said, looking to me with pained eyes. I knew why. She used to be one of the guys. Well, she'd always been a girl, but we hadn't really treated her like one. She was upset when we all sided with Nikko in the "divorce". They were dating—as much as any kids can date one another—and they had a really messy break up when Nikko complained about her acting like a girl. Obviously, in that moment, he'd forgotten what everyone else always did: she _was_ a girl.

We all followed Nikko after the break up, and she was left with just Chika, who, bless her heart, was an unpredictable ball of creativity. Aika and Chika couldn't play soccer together, because Chika was always 'losing' her shoes. Everyone knew that Emiko stole them, but Chika was too nice to get her in trouble. It was another motivation for wanting to give Emiko a bag of shredded paper.

"You could also...not," I suggested, wincing at my poor improvisation. Aika narrowed her eyes at me, trying to discover my motivation probably, but I sighed with relief when I heard the racing feet that were running down the stairs. Aika groaned and flopped over on the couch beside her brother, probably hoping that he would shield her from the guys.

"We have company?" Chika asked, blinking up at me with wide eyes. "I should get some crackers then."

"You do that," I said, confused. Usually Dad just put the kettle on and Mom got out treat trays. But Chika was a unique flower that would not be deterred. I heard her dragging a chair across the kitchen towards the cupboards, so that she could reach the fancy crackers Mom kept hidden up there for when we had important work connections over. I would be taking the blame for that later, because I knew Chika was genuinely trying to be helpful and courteous, and I tried to support that whenever possible.

"What's going on?" Elliot asked, as they made it to the bottom of the steps. He glanced past me and recognized Aika's coat on the ground. He sought her out immediately, and headed towards the couch, climbing over Shouta in his quest to reach Aika. Shouta was forced to move in order to allow Elliot the space he needed. He unleashed his version of a smoulder, and deepened his voice. "Hey, Aika. What's up?"

"Ew," Aika said, shoving him away from her. She got to her feet and walked around him, leaving plenty of space for his ego, before going to her brother. After she was sure he was okay, she excused herself—to me only—and headed towards the kitchen, to help Chika with her snacks, and hopefully to make sure Chika didn't melt marshmallows on top of spinach on them.

Dad was the only one that could eat Chika's creations. He was a brave man.

"She totally likes me," Elliot said confidently, grinning to himself. Nikko slowly walked towards the kitchen doorway, wanting to help Chika with her snack, but not being brave enough to face Aika. I wasn't sure if they'd talked at all since their break up. It wasn't healthy. That's what Mom said anyway. And I figured she would know. She had to have dated _someone_ other than Dad. She was beautiful. She could have been a movie star. She was a little crazy though...I was pretty sure that was where Chika got it from.

"No, she doesn't," Hiro said with a snort.

"Like you would know," Elliot said, waving his opinion off—even though Hiro was legitimately Aika's cousin and might actually know better than Elliot did. I was firmly in Hiro's corner. I was pretty sure I knew exactly what Aika was thinking. I'd seen their interactions almost daily since Elliot got it into his head that he and Aika were meant to be.

I didn't see it. But maybe that was just me.

" _Did you see the way she threw that snow ball at me?" Elliot asked. "She put so much effort into it. It was perfect, and she did it just for me."_

" _Yeah," Hiro said with a laugh. "She aimed right for your face."_

" _It was probably just her way of blowing a kiss or something," Elliot said confidently. "She's embarrassed. She doesn't want to be seen with me, just in case I don't return her feelings. Someone should just tell her I'm willing to date her. It would put her out of her misery."_

" _Someone should put_ you _out of your misery," I said, only I wasn't the only one speaking. I turned to see Kaoru Kido. Her face flushed with anger at my audacity to say the same thing at the same time. I would have said something like 'great minds think alike' but I didn't want to insult myself._

" _No one asked you," I said instead._

" _Don't talk in public if you don't want the public's opinion," she said, glaring at me._

" _And who elected you to be their representative?" I demanded._

" _It was a responsibility that was thrust upon me, I'm afraid. No one else wanted to have to get this close to_ you _to say anything," she snapped, before stalking off. I rolled my eyes. Girls were weird. I was so glad Chika was so much weirder. I didn't think I could handle having someone like Kaoru around all the time. It would be torture._

" _But seriously," Elliot said, picking up the pieces of the snowball that had slammed into his face. "This is a work of freaking art._ "

Elliot ignored my opinion, just like Nikko always did. It was horrible. I had such great comments and no one ever paid attention to them. It was a catastrophe. Aika never ignored me. Aika never ignored anyone. She went along with everything we did, and the only thing she ever asked in return was that we remembered she was a girl and sometimes, she liked to act like one. We'd failed that one simple task, and now she was lost to us forever.

But maybe she wasn't.

She was miserable. She liked Chika, and I was glad that she and Chika had each other, because Aika kept Chika out of trouble, and helped to rein in her wildest ideas. But I didn't think Chika was enough for Aika. I toyed, momentarily, with the idea of finding more friends for her, before the obvious truth flew at me and smacked me right in the face. Aika didn't need _new_ friends. She needed her old friends. All I needed to do was to mend the bridges between Aika and Nikko, and then Aika could be our friend again—and I wouldn't be ignored. It was brilliant. It was also incredibly difficult.

But it was definitely easier than figuring out what to get for Osamu for the Secret Santa.

 **Featured Evolution Line: Makoto:** Yuramon—Tanemon—Aruramon—Kabkukimon—Blossomon—BanchoLilimon


	5. Prodigy

**U/N:** Tenshi is actually my favourite of all the children. He's the kid who looks like Kari in the epilogue with his random digimon who is higher leveled than the other digimon for no exact reason. But he's so sweet and probably the best person amongst these wild children. I think he's the best anyway. There are others I like too, like Chika and Iris, but they're just the nicest of all the kids I feel. I don't know, I like the others too obviously or we wouldn't have created them, but still. Anyway, here you are, I hope you like Takari children.

 **Title: Here Comes Santa Claus**

 **By: UrazamayKing**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.**

 **Chapter 05: Prodigy**

 _ **Tenshi Takaishi:**_

I carefully closed my cello into its case, knowing that if anything were to happen to it, I wouldn't be able to afford a replacement. I was sure that Mom or Dad would be able to help me out, but I wasn't one to ask for money, even in dire situations. I liked to earn my own way and to do that, I had to have a job. It was hard to balance this job—working at the nearest fast food restaurant—with having friends, playing the cello and studying for school, but I would do everything I could to achieve my goals.

I looked to the dream board that took up much of my wall above my bed and smiled. There were ribbons pinned in a crossing pattern, woven together to keep the images up where I could see them and strive for their meanings. Of course there was an image of my family. I had taken that picture so long ago, I could tell because Hiro was actually smiling in it. Above that was a series of photographs of my friends and the times we had shared. I wasn't actually in the images, because I had been taking the pictures, and most of them were of Salamon, Renjiro, Kana and Louisa, but every now and then Mai and Haruki would pop up in the background too. And sometimes Salamon was a Nyaromon still, back when he was younger. They were pretty old pictures too. I had several images of my cello, or me _playing_ the cello that I had taken on a timer, using my tripod. Everything on the board was a picture taken by me, I really enjoyed photography. I never had much time for it though.

But that was my plan just then. I had put aside my cello early so I could get outside and take some nice winter scenery photographs.

It was as I was reaching into the large black camera bag that Mom poked her head into my bedroom. She smiled and leaned against the doorframe, her arms folded over her chest. "I didn't hear the cello," she said in her light and kind voice. "Are you done practicing?"

I nodded and smiled at her, holding up my expensive black camera, "I was going to go out with Salamon and take some pictures of the trees and stuff."

Mom looked startled for a moment, "Are you sure?" she asked, turning to my cluttered calendar that hung next to my organized desk. She ran her finger along the boxes, reading all of the events that I had scheduled in different coloured pens to keep it better organized. Finally she found my audition date. It was only in two days, and a panic started to set in when I realized how long it had taken her to get to that point. Had I forgotten something that I was meant to do between now and then? "You don't have long before your audition. Are you sure you want to use your time on photography?"

I hesitated, weighing the odds. Yes, I really did want to, but perhaps she was right. I forced a smile, "Okay," I agreed, "You're right. I'll take some pictures some other time."

Mom smiled warmly, "I'm so proud of you," she told me in her usual way. I always believed her, but there was something about the way she said it that didn't settle well with me. "Your father too."

"What about me?" Dad asked, having been on his way down the hall. He looked into my bedroom, and looked around. He didn't come in very often because he had very little reason to, and so every time he had the chance he liked to see if I'd changed anything. I rarely did. I kept my room well organized and everything was always in place. The only thing that ever moved was Salamon's bed because she liked to drag it around, unsure where would be best. I always made sure she had enough different places to try.

"We're proud of Tenshi," Mom smiled, grabbing Dad's shoulder and rubbed it gently.

Dad beamed toward me and nodded his head, "Absolutely," he said kindly, "You're so talented. One day you'll be the most famous cellist in all the land." My forced smile stayed on my face as Hiro walked by, behind Mom and Dad, sneering and making rather obnoxious sounds as he mocked the praise Dad was giving me. Dad spun on his heel, "Hey Hiro, where were you?"

"Out," Hiro said blankly, grabbing the door to his bedroom. Salamon looked up to me and made a crinkled, upset sort of face and I nodded. Hiro was such a typical teenager. Could he not, for once, just relax and be civilized? I had a feeling it was because of his friends, and Louisa agreed. Elliot was a fine young man, sure, but he wasn't particularly polite. Louisa was always screaming at him for one thing or another.

" _Elliot Washington," Louisa had barked, just the other night, "I cannot believe you did this. You've gone too far."_

" _Because I accidentally took one of your shoes for my science project?" Elliot asked, seeming appalled._

" _Because that was my_ prom _shoe and because it wasn't an accident you jerk!" She shrieked as she leapt into the air toward him. Kana shouted in surprise and backed up into a wall with only Renjiro and I to protect her._

And that was just a typical day in the Washingon household. Sure, Louisa and Elliot loved each other and it was extraordinarily apparent whenever they weren't screaming at each other, even if they would never say that it was so, but they were still quite argumentative. And more often than not, Elliot was to blame, and that was not just me being biased toward my friend. Elliot was a bad influence on Hiro, I was sure of it.

"Where were you?" Dad asked again.

"With Nikko," Hiro gasped, as if Dad had been hounding him all night, which couldn't have been the case since Hiro had just returned home.

" _Where_ were you?" Dad was an amazing parent. I was always shocked at how well his patience held out, because it was clear, to me at least, that he was annoyed already.

Hiro groaned, throwing his head back dramatically, "We went to the fair, and we ate supper at Osamu's house, _okay_?"

"Okay," Dad decided, nodding his head.

"Good," Hiro snapped before slamming the door in Dad's face. Dad simply took a deep breath and shared a look with Mom before silently storming down the hallway to vent his frustrations into a pillow by screaming.

Mom's similar expression carried over to when she looked back into my room, but when she caught sight of my cello in its case she let her eyebrows raise, "You'd better get back to practicing, you don't want to mess up at the audition."

I nodded again, "Right," I said and then she was slipping out of my room, closing the door as she went along. I rubbed the back of my neck, hoping to relieve some of the stress that had just built up, and Salamon hopped up onto my bed, flopping over next to me for comfort. She always knew when I needed it too. I decided I would give myself a couple minutes before I started practicing again, and I turned on my camera, to look at my most recent pictures.

A twisted feeling in my stomach swelled up when I realized how long ago the pictures had been taken. The first image was of Kana and Mai sharing a strange assorted salad at a restaurant, and the ones that led up to it were of the proceeding events of the day. Louisa, Kana, Mai and I had all gone to see a play out in Tokyo. Renjiro hadn't been able to come, and Haruki simply didn't want to when we extended the offer to him, upon Louisa's request, so then the final ticket went to Mai instead.

I could remember one memory above all the others though. And it had been captured beautifully in the final picture on the camera.

 _Louisa and Kana had rushed off ahead, climbing the hill until they were at the very top, leaving Mai and I to walk alone. It was a long way up, and we had lost track of the others, but I knew that if we followed the path we would find our way, even if we only had the simple light from Mai's flashlight to guide us. The night was cool, but not cold, and the air was fresh and sweet. I couldn't see anything past the trees that extended their branches above our heads, but the further we moved the brighter our destination became._

" _It's weird," Mai admitted, "Hanging out without Haruki. He's usually the one dragging me along with you guys."_

" _Oh," I said, feeling rather insulted, but Mai quickly adjusted her phrasing._

" _I like it!" she insisted, "I like you guys a lot, it's just odd to have Haruki not be here. Louisa's a lot different when she isn't trying to impress him."_

" _That's true," I agreed. "And without Haruki there's less sarcasm on Kana's side of things." Mai snorted and nodded her own agreement. Kana liked Haruki fine I was sure, there was just something about him that set off whatever genes her father managed to give her in terms of personality. "I like it too. I feel calm. Almost happy."_

" _Like it doesn't matter what you say or who you are," Mai agreed, "because it's just such a peaceful atmosphere."_

 _And as she'd said it we came up on the hilltop where Kana and Louisa were staring out at a vast sea of beautiful lights. Tokyo was beautiful from way up here. It was so beautiful in fact that I had to immediately take out my camera, but before I could take a picture, my camera began flashing telling me that I had no room on the card. I sighed and began going through the ones I had taken in order to delete just one, so I could take a picture to remember this moment._

 _Louisa, who had chosen to sit on the ground, staring to the city below, took a deep breath and sighed, "I'm really glad you came with us today, Mai," she said, flopping her head back to look to Mai who stood directly behind her. "If you didn't come, my mom would'a made an adult come, and we would never be out in the middle of the night looking down to the city of love."_

" _I thought that was Paris," Kana said, sounding confused._

 _Louisa ignored her, "I was thinking," she said, finally turning, to face Mai, "As a thank you, I can set you up on a date." Mai's face fell completely, and I rolled my eyes. Louisa and her attempted matchmaking skills had never proven to be useful or at all accurate. "There's this boy in my class who just transferred from Japan! He can't speak English well, so I've been partnered with him to help him with everything. He's rich of course, since he goes to my school and I think you'd like him."_

" _Do you even know anything about him?" Kana asked._

 _Louisa shook her head, "No he hates me, but he's Japanese!" she insisted, looking up to Mai, sounding hopeful._

 _Mai shook her head, "I'm okay, thank you."_

 _Louisa pouted, but returned to staring to the lights. I had finally found a very blurry picture of Louisa trying to feed some birds, and deleted it, freeing up enough space for one single photograph. I turned to the lights and steadied my hands, ready to remember that moment forever, and I snapped the picture._

"You know," Salamon said, rubbing her head against my elbow affectionately, "You don't have to practice the cello, you could always say 'no' and no one would even mind, probably."

I shook my head, and put my camera away, zipping the bag up and slipping it under my wardrobe where it belonged. "Mom's right. I'm supposed to be a cellist. That's what I've always been told anyway, and so I have to make sure I get into this school. I don't have any other options for my future."

"Your career is going to be playing the cello?"

I turned to the door of my room that had been pushed open again, and saw Hiro standing there, with his arms crossed. Tokomon was at his feet looking pleased to be let out of his room—he may have been shut in there again. Hiro's room was too cluttered for Tokomon to make use of the cat door that had been installed for his escape. I usually tried to keep the door open for him, but Hiro was usually frustrated that I was taking an effort in his partner, thinking it meant I found him to be incapable when that wasn't the case.

"That's not even a real career," Hiro said, sounding lighter than before, but much more frustrated. I didn't answer him because I knew he would have a real reason to come to my room. He would never come see me without one. It made me sad to remember when we used to be friends. "Tokomon tells me that you were in my room this morning."

I nodded instantly, "He's not lying," I said, "but you knew this."

"I did not," Hiro snapped.

"How else would he have been fed?" I asked dryly, realizing Hiro was in one of his moods. I wasn't in the right state of mind to be dealing with him so I simply moved forward, to close the door, but Hiro slammed his hand into the other side of it to stop me from shutting him out. "Hiro—"

"No," He interrupted, "You can't just come into my room whenever you want to! It's an invasion of privacy and I don't like when you move stuff around!"

"I'm only trying to clean—"

"I know what you're _trying_ to do," Hiro snapped, "But why don't you clean up your own messes and leave mine out of it?" I rolled my eyes, which was a mistake, but it was my only coping mechanism for Hiro. "Hey!" He yelled, "Don't do that! Don't treat me like I'm lesser than you! I'm _not_! My room is messy, sure, but your _dog_ is always farting in the living room, and no one ever complains about _that_!"

Salamon coughed, sounding startled and embarrassed, "You fart in the living room too Hiro—"

"And Mom always gets mad at me!" Hiro snarled.

"You should be able to control your basic bodily functions, Hiro," I scolded, which again proved to be a mistake. Hiro hated feeling like he was being looked down upon.

Hiro looked past me to Salamon and when I looked back I saw that he looked rather upset and offended, and when Hiro added, "Well your stupid dog can figure it out too I'm sure. It's not hard. You just _don't_ do it." He looked back to me, "So either he's too stupid to figure it out, or you're too stupid to teach him."

Salamon immediately burst into tears and Hiro knew he had gone too far. I knew he knew it and surely he knew that I knew, but I would not let him get away with it either. "Hiro, you need to apologize right now."

He looked to me with daring eyes, "You're not my parent—"

"And you're not being paid to be the household bully, so you can stop whenever you'd like," I shouted. Tokomon jumped in fright when my voice rose above its normal volume and I felt rather apologetic. Hiro was now past being upset and was about to shout back at me, but I continued before he could. "I don't appreciate you coming into my room and attempting to scold me for helping your partner find food in the warzone that you call a bedroom, but if you _must_ yell at me to feel good about yourself, then _do_ so. But if you ever yell at, insult, or in any way offend Salamon again, I'll make sure it's the last thing you do."

"Tenshi!" I heard Mom gasp, and as one, Tokomon, Hiro and I all turned to her. She was standing in the hallway with Gatomon rested on her shoulders, looking all too shocked to hear me threaten Hiro. Hiro however was looking rather pleased with himself that Mom had come at the perfect moment for _him_. "What is going on?"

"Hiro made Salamon cry," I told her, trying to lighten my voice for her, but it still came out with quite the bitter undertone. "He insulted him and is just being a complete jerk."

Mom turned her attention to Hiro immediately and he let out a loud groan, "Of course!" he cried out, throwing his hands into the air, "Of course you would side with the Golden Child."

"Stop calling me that!" I snapped, finally letting my frustration grow to a boil. He was _delusional_. Mom and Dad liked him just as much as they liked me and him calling me the Golden Child didn't make it so.

Hiro rounded on me, "That's what you _are_!"

"Hiro!" Mom gasped, "Stop yelling!"

" _He's yelling too_!" Hiro bellowed, rounding on the wall behind him and slamming his fist into it, creating a crater where his fist had hit. As his fist came round Dad appeared at the end of the hallway looking all to angry with Hiro.

His jaw tightened and then he turned to me, "Tenshi, go practice your cello." He looked to Hiro with a cold stare, "We need to talk to your brother." Tokomon looked up to me in horror and then to Hiro before rushing back into Hiro's room, leaving me no choice but to mimic him and back into my own room. I closed the door softly and turned to Salamon whose eyes were still wet with unshed tears.

I moved to her side and fell to my knees, drawing her into my arms to hug her. She sniffled sharply and pressed further into my embrace and we stayed like that a while. I could hear Hiro shouting back to whatever Dad was saying. Salamon didn't want to hear it anymore so she asked if I could play my cello and I nodded, popping it out of its casing easily.

I started it up quickly, playing the song I knew the best and Salamon rubbed her head against head against the back of my leg, listening to the music until Hiro's voice rose above the sound. " _All you ever talk about is Tenshi and his stupid cello!_ " I played the music quicker, hoping to drown him out, but when I heard him once more, " _I don't care!_ " I felt Salamon flinch.

I stopped playing immediately and put the cello away, much to Salamon's dismay. But I had a much better idea. I slipped my shoes on and my coat and then grabbed my school bag before picking Salamon up. I left the room and made my way to where my parents were still sitting with Hiro in the living room. They all looked to me as I stood in the opening to the room, and it seemed each of them looked ready to cry.

I cleared my throat, "I-I'm going to Renjiro's house." Mom looked to the nervous Salamon in my arms and nodded.

Patamon was quick to chime in, fluttering over to me, resting on my shoulder. "Could Tokomon go too, he's getting really upset."

Mom nodded, "Of course," she said, looking to my feet. I hadn't even noticed Tokomon's arrival, but I smiled to him all the same. I pulled him into my arms where he joined Salamon and caught a last minute glare from Hiro that was so dark and so cold that I had no choice but to leave then and there.

On the way to Renjiro's house, Salamon and Tokomon talked about what had been said in the argument between Hiro and my parents. I wished he would just take life more easily. His constant rage directed toward me made it very hard for me to do as Miyako had asked me to. _"Always try to do the right thing. It might not be easy, but I think you can do it."_ And she had passed her crest on to me. _Honour_. What was the right thing in a situation where Hiro only wanted to scream and make others feel bad? I felt my fists tighten and Salamon seemed to notice, because he decided to change the subject, but Tokomon hadn't yet caught on.

"Takeru says that Hiro needs to pick up a hobby, like Tenshi," Tokomon said, "Tenshi's cello keeps him calm, right? So maybe if Hiro had a hobby he would be able to be happy." Salamon seemed to think it was an innocent enough topic and together they began brainstorming what Hiro could do in replacement for being filled with angst and bitter resentment.

I knocked politely on the door when we arrived and Mr Kido had been the one to open the door. "Hello Tenshi," Mr Kido said kindly, "Are you here for Renjiro?"

I nodded, "Yes, sir."

Mr Kido smiled, amused by being called 'sir'. He stepped aside and let me walk past. I ducked past and slipped my shoes off, setting Salamon and Tokomon free when they caught sight of Bukamon and Upamon chasing Hopmon down the hallway. "So, how's Hiro doing with his crest?" Mr Kido asked as usual. He always liked to know how Hiro was managing under the pressure of the crest of faith, since he had been the one to pass it off to him.

And as usual, I had no idea how to properly respond. "He'll get there," I assured Mr Kido who seemed to think that was a fair reply. He then pointed up the stairs to where Renjiro and the others surely were. I thanked him and hurried up, still wearing my coat and carrying my bag. I knocked on his bedroom door, but as it was propped open slightly I simply pushed it further to reveal myself. Louisa, Renjiro and Kana were all sitting on the floor surrounded in papers and objects and books to help them study. "Hello," I said as brightly as I could.

Renjiro seemed shocked to see me, and I felt guilty for coming unannounced. Hopefully he wasn't gearing up to send everyone home, because I wasn't ready to go back to Hiro just yet. He broke his confusion with a smile though, and he patted the floor next to himself. I grinned and made my way across the floor on my toes, being careful not to mess anything up, and then finally sat down, joining in their study session.

We had a lot to learn before our midterms at the end of the month. Renjiro and Kana were rather focused, as usual, and they were talking circles around me, and surely Louisa too. Luckily I didn't have the same classes as them, so I had a reason to be confused. I was mostly studying on my own, trying to memorize the important events in the Digital World's history when Louisa cried out in agony.

"I have to go do something," she groaned, "Anything that isn't studying." She pulled herself to her feet and made her way to the door, and nearly found herself smacked in the face as Mrs Kido opened the door sharply.

"I'm sorry!" Mrs Kido gasped, "I just heard someone looking for something to do, and I need help making snacks." Louisa perked up and waved to us all before following Mrs Kido down the hall.

Kana seemed pleased that Louisa was gone, which I found to be slightly rude, but the moment she was sure Louisa was out of ear shot she turned to Renjiro and I and dropped her pencil, "Okay," Kana said, "I know we're not supposed to say anything, but I have Louisa in the Secret Santa draw." Renjiro let out a hollow laugh, and I simply sighed. Renjiro and Kana had been the reason the Emiko secret had been spilled. Had they learned nothing from the last time? "What do you get someone who has everything she could ever want?"

There was a moment of silence and I felt kind of bad for Kana suddenly. She had a pretty good point in that it would be very hard. I had Ryou, which was hard enough because he rarely spent time with any of us. He had gone on a very long adventure before finally making his way back to his own time and finally he was here, living his normal life. He appreciated the small things I knew, but how was that helpful in getting him a present? "I have no idea," I admitted, sending Kana an apologetic look.

"Yeah, good luck," Renjiro laughed. Kana seemed annoyed that we weren't being helpful, but when there was a knock on the door to Renjiro's bedroom we all turned to look.

Emiko was standing with a big smile on her face, "Whatcha doing?" she asked with a desperate plea for attention. Renjiro and Kana both shot Emiko the coldest of glares they could muster, obviously upset with her greedy ploy for presents. Emiko's shoulders fell when she realized she would get no reaction, but she set her sights on me when I didn't join in their glare. "Hey Tenshi."

I looked to Renjiro and Kana who both shook their head, trying to tell me to ignore her. I nodded my understanding, but when I looked back to Emiko I felt too guilty. "Hello, Emiko." I said, flinching under the stares from my friends.

Emiko's face lit up, but I couldn't hear her next words because Renjiro began speaking loudly. "Kana why don't you wrap Haruki and give him to Louisa?"

Kana then turned her glare on Renjiro and hissed at him, "First, don't scream out that I have her!" Renjiro's face turned red suddenly, "And second, a person is not an object. I cannot get him to fall in love with her, nor would I if I _could_."

"S-sorry," Renjiro pouted.

Emiko laughed, "Little brother got in trouble," she said, but she backed up when Renjiro's glare returned. "Okay, fine," she said finally, deciding to leave the room. "Oh hey—" she stopped on her way out and turned back to me, "Thanks for letting Renjiro and Kana come to my show on your audition day." And then she was gone. I felt my stomach twist as I looked over to my friends who both looked startled, and were maybe silently asking each other if either had told me. When they understood that neither had said anything to me about it, then turned to me.

"It's fine," I said before they could try to explain, "It's just an audition. I really don't mind." I wanted the support, since I knew Hiro wouldn't be there, but I understood that Emiko was important too.

"Tenshi," Kana tried, but I just held my hand up to silence her, "You're sure it's okay?" she asked in a quiet voice. I nodded, forcing a smile anyway.

"What's okay?" Louisa asked, returning to the room with a big tray of snacks.

Renjiro looked too embarrassed to explain so Kana stepped forward, "Renjiro and I can't go to Tenshi's audition."

"Oh no," Louisa whined, "That sucks. It's my turn to pay for lunch too. Shucks, I guess I get off easy again." Renjiro laughed, but Kana simply rolled her eyes.

I looked to Louisa as she settled in on the floor, placing the tray of snacks nearest me, seeing I was upset, "You'll be there?" I asked her, my voice not as strong as I'd have liked.

"Sure thing," she said, winking my way. I smiled at her, feeling better already. I could always count on Louisa to save the day. If Hiro, Kana and Renjiro all couldn't make it, at least I'd have one friend who could be there for me.

 **Featured Evolution Line:** **Tenshi:** Yukimibotamon—Nyaromon—Salamon—D'arcmon—Hippogriffomon—BanchoLeomon


	6. Tough Love

**U/N:** Aika is maybe my least favourite of the children that I wrote as. We each only had seven, so it's not a big pool to pick from but there was just something entirely ridiculous about her that was so hard to write for me. In terms of the kids personalities though, all of their parents are wildly successful and the world they live in is endlessly peaceful and happiness oozes from everywhere around them. I'm exaggerating, but basically a lot of them are kind of spoiled. Especially the middle group of children who are all crazy, which includes Aika. I don't know, I don't dislike her, and I think she's wildly different than other characters. Much more aggressive—a lot like Cody, only whinier and... well I dunno. Here's the chapter.

 **Title: Here Comes Santa Claus**

 **By: UrazamayKing**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.**

 **Chapter 05: Tough Love**

 _ **Aika Ishida:**_

My phone buzzed and when I looked to see who my new message was from, I saw Makoto's name flash across the screen. I pursed my lips and clicked the message, expecting it to be another video of an animal doing a hilarious stunt, but instead found a genuine message.

 _Meet me in the auditorium. Come alone._

I furrowed my brow, trying to understand what that could mean, and then my phone buzzed again.

 _That sounded menacing. I just mean, don't bring Chika._

Ah, well that made more sense. I wasn't sure that I was going to listen anyway. I could have just entirely ignored him and made my way to a different part of the school and pretended that I hadn't seen his message at all, but that seemed unlikely to work. I wasn't a great liar, and Makoto always knew exactly what I meant. I thought it had something to do with the crest I'd been given. Desire. I thought it was the stupidest of all the crests personally. All I had to do was be open about what I wanted and needed and find the difference between them or something, but it didn't make much sense. If I had _Pride_ then I could understand maybe. I had a big pride, and finding a way to get over it to mend issues with people or to even apologize was hard. But that wasn't my crest. I had stupid _Desire_.

I didn't know how to make the crest shine, and Yokomon had no ideas either. Well, no good ideas.

" _What if you just go through this catalogue?" Yokomon suggested. "Circle everything you want with a marker and then I'll probably digivolve big enough to break Nikko's heart right back."_

" _Doesn't work like that," I told her with a sigh, talking mostly about breaking a person's heart physically._

" _Well you never know!" Yokomon exclaimed, rolling a big red marker my way._

I closed my locker, trying to think of a way out of meeting up with Makoto when I caught sight of Nikko and Hiro making their way down the halls. Hiro flashed a smile my way but Nikko didn't even look toward me. I could _see_ him fighting the urge to though. I knew he was avoiding me, and I knew why too. He was a stubborn idiot, that's why. What kind of jerk got to bear _hope_ as a crest? Uncle Takeru had talked to me about it and how it had nothing to do with being kind, just optimistic, but I thought that was pretty dumb.

As Nikko settled in at his own locker I noticed a flock of girls whisking by with several girly Floramon in their midst. The Floramon in this school always seemed to find a way to be the most popular of everyone and it was just annoying. They were all obnoxious. At least the ones I had met. Each of the girls tilted their head toward Nikko and smiled. He smiled right back, playing along with their flirting like always, but he had no intention of advancing any further with any of them. He was such a _boy_.

Why did he and his friends have to be such _jerks_?

"Stupid Nikko," I snapped, slamming my locker shut. I was pretty sure Nikko had heard me but I didn't even care. He _was_ stupid. He had promised me that he would treat me like a girl but he tossed me aside when he had formed real feelings for someone. That meant he never liked me at all. That meant he had been lying to me and that he was just an _idiot_. And when I told him that, somehow _I_ became the bad guy?

" _You've been lying about having feelings for me," I yelled, balling up my fist around my phone before throwing it directly toward him. The phone smashed against the wall behind him, just barely missing his head and he gasped out in shock. "Why_ wouldn't _I be angry?"_

" _It's not that I didn't like you," Nikko reasoned, "I'm just a kid, I don't know what love is—"_

" _I didn't ask you to love me!" I screamed, "I wanted to be your friend! Remember? You asked me out and I said 'no' because I wanted to be_ friends _above all else! You assured me we would always be friends and yet here we are! I was_ right _! And you're a_ jerk _!" I remember looking to Makoto, Osamu and Hiro for support but each of them looked to me with wide, unblinking eyes, unsure how to react. When I turned to Elliot he at least slid off of the back of the couch and made his way to Nikko to try to reason with him, but Nikko was angry now too._

" _You're such a drama queen, Aika!" Nikko shouted, his own fists balling up now too. "You're right though, and I see it now. You_ are _just like other girls. You're annoying and you're—"_

" _If you finish that, I'll wipe your face in the mud!" I shouted, and Nikko froze, staring toward me. He didn't know how to respond either. I furiously ran my hands through my hair and then spun on the spot, reaching out for Yokomon. She leapt into my arms and I stormed toward the door. I threw it open before stopping and turning back to the others. "Thanks for the support," I said sarcastically, "nice to know who your real friends are."_

To be fair to them, they hadn't supported Nikko either, I had just been angry, and was unable to find it in me to apologize to them. I would never apologize to Nikko though. He was a jerk and that was simply factual.

Being friends with pubescent boys was a difficult ordeal, unfortunately. I was actually rather fond of them, but because of the world we lived in, they didn't understand that they were being sexist, or that they were narrow minded, or that 'no' meant 'no'. I was sure I had flaws too, but since I spent so much time around Nikko and his array of imperfections I didn't have time to find my own!

By the time I registered where I was in the school I had found myself on my way to the auditorium. I hesitated of course, unsure what to do next. On one hand, I missed Makoto very much and I wanted to spend more time with him. On the other hand, I was friends with Chika now and was too caught up in my own head to actually work things out with Makoto. I wondered if Chika would be upset if I went to Makoto. Would she think I was abandoning her by spending time with her brother instead of her?

I didn't know where she was right then anyway, probably hunting unicorns or something.

I sighed and made my way into the auditorium, marching down the dimly lit aisle until I stopped at the balcony's edge. I stared down to the stage where Makoto was standing, talking to a crowd of people in the audience. His hands were thrown out in the most dramatic way possible as he projected his voice far enough that I could hear him clearly. "Welcome _all_!" he called out, "The auditions will start as soon as my co-director shows up. She's amazing, you'll see. She's so interesting too, so I know she'll have really good ideas. See, she and my friend used to date, but I want her to not be sad anymore so I asked her to help me out. But until she gets here, I want you all to line up by the stage so we can audition one at a time."

Oh. So this was his attempt to reach his hand out and mend the problems in our friendship. That would have been kind if it wasn't simply for pity. He felt guilty now and was making it up to _himself_ so he didn't have to feel upset, but had somehow caught himself in the delusion that what he was doing was kind. He was convinced he was doing this for me, when really it was for himself.

As I turned to leave, I groaned, because Makoto's voice floated up to me once more. "There she is!" I stopped and turned back to him, waving goodbye, but he was quick to protest, "Wait Aika!" he shouted, moving down the stage until he was at the very edge. "Come here! At least hear me out." I debated for a moment before finally relenting and making my way to the stairs. "Yeah!" Makoto pumped his fists into the air, "Okay everyone, get ready to be part of the best play this school has ever seen! The wonderful directing team of Aikoto is on the case!"

I laughed, but made it sound as bitter as I could, "Well I haven't decided yet, Makoto."

"You'll have to speak up, Aika," Makoto said, adjusting his posture and pressing on his diaphragm. "If you speak from down here you'll be able to project your voice far enough." He looked to the students surrounding him, nodding as if they were learning a valuable life lesson from him. "See, I actually _did_ hear Aika, but you all thought I did not. I am a brilliant actor, so in case any of you were wondering why _I_ was chosen to be in charge, that would be why."

"You weren't chosen," a nearby student pointed out, "You're the one who started the play up." Makoto flushed a bright pink and chose not to reply, making his way off the stage to greet me.

His face was still a bright pink when he had caught up to me, and he looked over his shoulder to the student that had embarrassed him, probably thinking of the worst part to give her. Makoto was wearing orange as usual, and I hated that I noticed. My mother's work always caught my eye and I knew more about fashion than I'd care to admit. When Makoto turned my way he took in my posture, trying to judge whether or not he could get away with his usual obnoxious personality. I had my hands in the pockets of my jacket and I was standing rather rigidly on the stairs. I had every intention to walk out on him. I didn't want to be part of the school play. "Aika, you have to help me," Makoto pleaded, apparently seeing my intent clearly. "I need your ability to be mean. These kids are ruthless."

I looked around to them and saw that most of them were younger than he was. I rolled my eyes, thinking Makoto was just being a baby but my eyes became still when I spotted Izumi Fujimoto. We knew her pretty well, since she was a crest bearer now too—the crest of Kindness somehow—and I shuddered. She was maybe the meanest little girl I'd ever met. As I looked down the line up of students I found Iris and Madlyn—Izumi's loyal followers, the twins of Willis and Mari—and then—

"Is that Shouta?" I asked, leaning forward to make sure I wasn't simply delusional. I wasn't. My brother was waiting in line to be a part of the school play. His arms were crossed and his sleeves were pulled down as his dark red hair covered his eyes. "Definitely Shouta."

"Yeah I don't even know what he's doing here," Makoto admitted, "But I'll give him the lead if you'll stay to help!" Makoto stopped, rolling his eyes back to think and then adjusted his promise, "Or an important role anyway, I want to be the lead."

"I thought you were directing," I said, still watching my brother, trying to decide what to do about seeing him there.

"No," Makoto explained, " _You're_ the director because you're so tough and can yell at people."

I rounded on him and he immediately flinched, "Hey," I snapped, not being particularly happy about the way that he viewed me, but as I looked to his worried expression I realized he was right. I _was_ mean. I didn't really like that... I didn't want to be a bad person. I decided to ignore Makoto while I made up my mind and I slipped past him, making my way toward Shouta who was now starring to his feet. He looked up, surprised to see me, and then blushed. "What's going on?" I asked him quietly. Luckily there was enough space between each person in line that no one could hear the two of us speaking. Even if they could, Madlyn was talking loud enough to drown us out nearby. "Since when are you interested in the theater?"

"I—I'm not," Shouta admitted, diverting his eyes. I followed his gaze toward Iris Goutokuji. And suddenly I understood. I didn't make a big show of anything, but it was still pretty cute. "I just thought since she was ... and then _I_ would..."

"I get it," I assured him, patting him on the back, "You'll do amazing." I turned back to the three girls and saw Izumi mocking someone and Madlyn pretending to be a monkey. Iris was smiling, but was barely paying attention. She seemed lost in thought. "You should talk to her," I suggested, but Shouta looked to me like I was insane.

"No!" he insisted, "Izumi is so intimidating and Madlyn's a crazy person."

"Now that's not entirely true," I tried to reason, but as I looked toward them again I found that he was right. If ever he was going to pack up the courage to talk to Iris it would have to be while she was alone. It was too bad they were the next generation Alias III and walked around like some Unholy Trinity of evil. Their digimon walked in the same formation anywhere they went, only it was less dramatic because they were Gummymon, Budmon and DemiMeramon and together they were just a collection of colourful balls. "Okay, I see your point." I turned back to Shouta who was nodding, but still looking toward Iris. In this one case I wanted the boy to get the girl. I'd never met a boy that was as _kind_ as Shouta was. All of _my_ friends—or _old_ friends as I could refer to them as now—were just morons. Shouta was different. "Weren't you friends with them before?"

Shouta nodded, "Yeah," he sighed, "but they just kind of dispersed. They're different now because they're older and I'm older too. I don't really have any friends, Aika. I'm not a popular guy. Izumi's the most popular girl in school and she's only nine." That was true actually. She knew how to bend things into her favour. "I don't know exactly what happened, but once they stopped thinking it was fun to play make believe, they stopped thinking _I_ was fun."

I patted his back again, feeling rather bad for him. The poor kid had been handed the crest of courage by Taichi, because apparently there was some kind of connection there, but Shouta had yet to even bother trying to make the crest activate. He was far too shy to think it through.

Shouta's eyes rolled back as he caught sight of something over my shoulder and when I turned back to see what it was I found myself making the same face. Elliot was coming over. He threw his hands up defensively. "Hey now," he said, "I was just coming to say hello." What was he even doing here? He went to school in America.

"Somehow that seems unlikely," I said, rolling my eyes back. Elliot seemed offended, and I felt bad for hurting him, but when he grabbed my arm gently and began leading me somewhere Shouta wouldn't be able to hear us I had a feeling he wasn't _too_ wounded.

"I had a dream that you had me for the Secret Santa," Elliot said as if it were the weirdest thing in the world. "You do, don't you?" I didn't. I had _Nikko_. As if the world hadn't punished me enough, I now had to find a way to please Nikko and get him a good present while still being infuriated with him. It was like everything that ever existed in terms of being a deity hated me and wanted to watch me suffer.

"You know I can't tell you that," I told him simply, shrugging my shoulders.

He sighed, "Fine, that's fair." I thought so too. "So, Aika, I wanted to apologize," Elliot said, catching me completely off guard. "I... I know I've been completely in your face lately, but I guess I kind of like you." I gave him a look that said I wasn't very surprised to find this out. He nodded, "Right, you knew that. I dunno, man. I guess seeing you _not_ as a part of the group made me realize how much I missed you."

"You're trying to fix the issue," I told him, "Your brain is telling you that me dating one of you will do that. You don't actually like me."

"But I do," he told me honestly. He then glanced over his shoulder, feeling embarrassed. I looked to my feet, unsure what to say and let Elliot do the talking. "I just want to know that I'm not insane. You like me too, don't you? You keep saying 'no' but I keep hearing 'yes' and I think I'm going insane."

Okay, so he _wasn't_ insane. The signs he was picking up were understandable because of course I did like him. Every girl in school liked him and he _didn't even go to our school_. It was exhausting having feelings like that because it always felt like it was a competition for his attention. But I didn't want his attention anymore, even if I did like him. "You hurt me," I told him in a soft voice. "When you picked Nikko over me." Elliot was at a loss of what to say next. He couldn't counter that because there was nothing more to say. He _had_ picked Nikko over me and it _had_ hurt me. "And you're also a stupid boy."

"But I'm a charming boy," Elliot said, "Who just so _happens_ to be an idiot." I smiled, but didn't let him see that. When I looked up it seemed that Elliot was smiling—and not just any smile, it was a genuine smile. That half smirk he did when he was actually enjoying himself. And as I noticed it, several chatting girls made their way down the stairs, pushing past us. Elliot's smile faded to a smoulder and he puffed out his chest. I rolled my eyes and turned away from him. "Wait—where are you going?"

"Anywhere but here," I told him flatly.

"What did I do?"

I rounded on him and said in a quiet voice so no one else would hear, "You're so conceited. You sleep at night because you know that people love you in the most superficial of ways. You care only about your own ego. That's why I don't like you, Elliot. You're not a good friend because I can guarantee that you would throw your friends under the bus just to feel good about yourself."

"That's a little harsh—"

"She's not wrong though," Elliot and I both turned to see Makoto who was leaning back in a chair in the audience, his feet resting on the seat directly in front of him. Elliot glared to his friend, but I smiled, feeling happy that someone finally agreed with me.

"She _is_ ," Elliot assured Makoto, turning to the lineup of students. "I'll show you how much I care for other people." Elliot marched forward, and my stomach dropped as I saw him walking toward Shouta and the new Alias III.

"Oh no," Makoto gasped, leaning forward. I groaned, hurrying after Elliot to stop him, but I was too late.

"Hey Izumi," Elliot called out, catching her attention.

"Elliot _stop_!" I insisted, but he waved me off.

"Hold on, watch this," Elliot insisted, but Shouta had grabbed Elliot's arm and was pleading with him to shut up with only his eyes. "Don't worry, I've seen you staring. I've got you, Shouta." Elliot turned back to Izumi, "Izumi, Shouta is in love with you."

All eyes in the auditorium turned on Shoua who turned as red as a tomato and released Elliot's arm, looking over to Izumi who seemed flattered, but confused. Shouta looked like he wanted to scream at Elliot but he couldn't find the words and kept tripping over his tongue until he finally pushed past him and rushed off, fleeing the scene entirely.

I punched Elliot as hard as I could in the arm and he cried out in pain. "You _idiot_ ," I snarled when everyone returned to their own business.

Elliot had the audacity to look to me like _I_ was the insane one and he looked rather put out, adjusting the stupid sunglasses on his stupid face. "I was so sure she'd love him back..." he sighed, "Pity it wasn't Iris that he liked because she's a lot nicer. She's my cousin see, and –" I could do nothing but to ignore him and roll my eyes back as far as they could go because honestly he was the most idiotic person I had ever had the misfortune of meeting.

I turned on the spot and stormed off after Shouta, ignoring Makoto's pleas for me to stay and help him. I felt bad for abandoning him, sure, but Shouta came first. Besides, if Makoto's plans involved me hanging out with him again, then I wasn't on board. Not if that involved Nikko and Elliot anyway.

 **Featured Evolution Line: Aika:** Nyokimon—Yokomon—Floramon—Ninjamon—Mamemon—BanchoMamemon


	7. Nutcracker

**Y/N:** I love writing as Kana's father, Iori, but for some reason, that love did not extend to his daughter. She was difficult to write, because she walked a thin line between boring and interesting as a personality. I don't know if I'm explaining it right or not... It's almost three in the morning, and I just finished writing an Iori chapter for 08, and I don't even know what I'm talking about anymore. I liked Upamon, and I kind of used him, but it was difficult, with the location this chapter took place in. I hope you like it. :D

 **Title: Here Comes Santa Claus**

 **By: YukiraKing**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.**

 **Chapter 07: Nutcracker**

 _ **Kana Hida:**_

"Don't be nervous," I told Tenshi, through the phone. I had him on speaker, and Renjiro and I both had our heads bent over the phone in my hand. Tenshi was freaking out, and I felt absolutely horrible, because we weren't there to help encourage him. Louisa was there though, and that was good. She would keep him from backing out at least. He wanted this. I was sure he did. He didn't have any other thoughts for his future that he'd shared with me in any case.

"You'll be amazing," Renjiro assured him. Renjiro's glasses were shifting down his nose, and I pushed them back up for him. His whole face turned red and he peeked over at me. I smiled at him when our eyes met, and he smiled back, timidly. He was always so cautious around me, like he thought I was going to disappear on him. I didn't plan to though. I loved him. I loved him more than I thought was possible. I couldn't even remember an exact moment when my feelings for him changed. It was so gradual and seamless that it was impossible to pinpoint the precise point in time. I didn't need to though. It didn't matter. Not really.

"What if I forget everything?" Tenshi asked, worriedly.

"You'll have your Mom in the audience," I pointed out, realizing the _real_ issue at hand. He wasn't worried about the music. He was a good cellist. He was very gifted and played beautifully. It was the audience he was worried about. "Just stare at her the whole time, if you need to. Or Louisa."

"Louisa's a bad choice," Renjiro protested quickly. "She's liable to make goofy faces just to screw up your concentration."

"Mom then," Tenshi decided. He didn't sound nearly as worried anymore, and for that I was glad.

"Break a leg out there, Tenshi," I told him. "You've got to get to the next round so we can see you up there."

"You'll have to tell us _everything_ ," Renjiro warned him. Tenshi thanked us, and hung up. He needed to be ready, because he was going on in five minutes. I wished I could be there for him. But I knew that this was also very important to Emiko, and she would be very hurt if we chose not to attend her performance.

Not that we were pleased with her at the moment.

What self-respecting twenty-five year old rigs a Secret Santa for her own favour? Josei was only six years old, and Emiko was going to trick that little girl? What about the other little kids? What about Yukai and Taro, and Izumi, Iris and Madlyn? What about Shouta? She couldn't have been thinking straight if she was going to ruin a fun game for them. She would have left them heartbroken. It just wasn't right. It might've been a joke, but it hadn't been funny to anyone except for Emiko.

"There you two are!" Mrs Kido called. "The curtain's about to go up, you've got to hurry to your seats."

"We're coming Mom," Renjiro said. I turned my phone onto silent, so that it wouldn't distract any of the patrons here for the show, and I grabbed Renjiro's hand, pulling him along. I kissed his cheek right before we entered the theatre, just to see him blush again, before we found our seats. Azura was keeping Monmon company, and his partner Kotemon was squeezed between Monmon and Bearmon, looking very excited about being invited. Mrs Kido was on Bearmon's other side, with Mr Kido next to her. Gomamon sat between Mr Kido and his brother...Mr Kido, who was next to _his_ wife, Mrs Kido, who had Otamamon in her lap, and their daughter Kaoru was at the very end.

Sometimes, using proper manners got confusing. Everyone was Mr or Mrs Kido these days. Renjiro's grandpa, Mr Kido, was with _his_ Mrs Kido, and the last Mr Kido was there too, his wife having been unable to make it. I thought maybe using their true names inside my head might make things easier but I felt guilty about not being respectful.

"I can't believe Shuu, Shin and Grandpa all came," Renjiro said in awe. "That'll make Emiko feel really special. I know she's nervous. She won't _say_ she is, but she's the star of the show."

"I know," I said, feeling the excitement seeping into my pores. Mom and Armadillomon might've been avid movie reviewers, but I had a special place in my heart for _live_ entertainment. I didn't care if it was a play, a ballet, a musical, an opera or a concert. If it was live, I loved it. I especially loved festivals for that very reason. There was something so special about seeing someone on a stage performing their hearts out. I could feel the raw emotion, and it was a sort of intimacy that television, movies or CDs couldn't really portray. And to think that Emiko was going to be on that stage in mere minutes was exhilarating.

Other than Tenshi and his cello, I'd never really had a personal connection with the performers I'd watched over the years with Grandpa Ando, or Granny Fumiko. They liked to take me places, making special outings out of it. But the ones that stood out most were when Tenshi was up there pouring his heart and soul into his music. I couldn't wait to experience The Nutcracker with Emiko on that same personal level.

I settled Upamon on my shoulder, because there was no way he would be able to see over the seat in front of him, and knew that he was going to fall asleep long before the intermission ever came around. He was always lulled to sleep by classical music. I was sure it had something to do with my obsession with it when I was younger.

" _I don't want nap time," he whined, when I put on a classic Mozart concerto. I looked to him confused._

" _I'm just studying," I told him. "You can play with Armadillomon or Goblimon if you want. I won't stop you."_

" _But you put on the sleepy time music," he said softly, as though I'd done it as a form of punishment._

" _I always listen to this," I pointed out as he yawned and sank into a gentle—yet unwanted—slumber. It was an attempt of mine to improve my brain capacity. I heard that classical music helped babies develop even in the womb, so I figured I would play it all the time, and it would improve me a whole lot more since I was ten and not just a little baby. I could actually learn things now. I was big enough._

I hadn't learned all that much on biology or science though, since I thought it worked that way. But Upamon had an aversion to classic music since then. I should have realized that he'd developed a pattern of falling asleep, but I hadn't. I figured that Goblimon and Armadillomon tuckered him out while I was at school all day.

After that, I tried to pay far more attention to my partner, so that I could understand him better. If he wasn't willing to tell me when things were bothering him, then I would have to deduce his discomforts on my own. It was a great exercise for me, and it improved the relationship between the two of us significantly.

"It's starting!" Bukamon whispered excitedly from his perch on Renjiro's head. I felt very happy that there were no people behind us, since we were at the very back row. Emiko had wanted more tickets than had been set aside in the front row, and instead of making us pay for our own tickets, she exchanged the better seats for these ones, hoping that we wouldn't mind.

And we didn't.

I always found it was easier to see the whole show as a whole from a distance, and since Emiko was the star, there wouldn't be any trouble finding her when she was onstage.

The lights dimmed around us, and everyone could feel the thrumming energy in the air. I clasped Renjiro's hand, and he rubbed the back of mine with his thumb as we waited for the curtains to rise. I heard Azura suck in a breath and he held it as long as he could, waiting for Emiko to come out onto the stage. And the moment she did, both of our breath was taken away. She looked like a dream, a vision in white, gliding across the stage in a lacy dress that reached her knees. Her long hair was done up in ringlets and held back with a large white ribbon. She was beautiful.

And she danced wonderfully.

I had never seen her look so happy and wonderful in my life. It didn't matter that I was mad at her at that particular moment. Nothing else mattered, because Emiko was up there, living her dream, and I knew that this as one of the most amazing things in the world.

Soon, I would be taking the first steps towards my own dream. Mine wasn't nearly as glamorous as Emiko's, but I'd tried that route already, and I knew it wasn't for me.

 _Mom and Dad weren't paying attention to me. Goblimon wasn't either, and Armadillomon was too preoccupied with Upamon. He was my partner, but he looked up to Armadillomon, and followed him around everywhere he went. It was exhausting for Armadillomon, and lonely for me._

 _I needed to find a way to make them pay attention to me again. I knew that they liked movies, so I decided to book an airplane ticket to Hollywood, so that I could be an actor and be in the movies that they liked, and then they'd pay more attention to me._

 _Only, it turned out I needed money to get a ticket, and that was something I didn't have. I sighed, and dragged my favourite blanket behind me and crawled into Dad's lap on the couch. Mommy was crying and Dad was holding her close. I didn't understand why she was already so sad, but it made me sad too._

" _I'm not really running away," I promised them. "I don't got any money, so I can't. Don't cry."_

" _You were going to run away?" Mommy asked, crying harder now. I cried more too as I nodded my head._

" _I wanna go be in the movies so you'll like me again," I cried._

" _Sweetheart, we like you just fine," Dad assured me, holding me against his chest. "We're just a little worried about your Grandfather."_

" _What about him?" I asked, pouting. They weren't sad about me wanting to run away—which I later realized was because they hadn't known I was thinking about it, but at the time it seemed like something they should've been more worried about. "Is_ he _running away too?"_

" _No," Mommy said. "His heart got sick. He's not getting better as fast as we thought. The doctors are worried."_

" _Maybe I should run away to Grandpa, and make him better?" I asked, confused, not understanding what was going on._

" _If only that would work," Dad said with a sigh._

" _You want to be an actress?" Mommy asked, trying to get her tears to stop._

" _No," I said, shaking my head. "I just want my mommy and daddy to love me again."_

" _We do, love you," Mommy insisted._

" _We've never stopped," Dad promised._

Grandpa did get better, but no, my dream wasn't in the entertainment industry. Mine was in the medical field. I was very excited about getting into such a promising school. It was a highly sought after school, which was why it was so hard to get into...but I wasn't sure how happy I was going to be when I got there, if Renjiro wasn't going to be there alongside me.

I wanted to go to a good school, and I was proud of myself for being accepted. I was going to go into dentistry, and find a solid career there, where I could be stable and happy in my future. But I guess I'd always figured Renjiro would be at my side the entire time, working towards the same goal. We'd been fantasizing about a joint dental practice since we were kids.

Upamon rolled off of my shoulder, onto my lap, and the lights lit up around me. It was time for intermission. Renjiro let go of my hand while he stood up to stretch.

"I have to pee!" Bukamon cried. Renjiro flushed red, embarrassed by just how loud Bukamon's call had been. He hurriedly grabbed Bukamon, and started towards the door. I poked Upamon, to see if he wanted to go too, but he was sound asleep, not even caring that there were hundreds of voices all talking at once. I sighed. He didn't appreciate fine music the way I did.

But that was okay, because we had other things that we could do together, like scrapbooking. He and I were working on a project for Louisa, using all of the pictures we'd been able to find—which _Emiko_ had actually helped me figure out.

" _Hey, Azura," Emiko said, dropping down onto the couch between me and her boyfriend in Renjiro's spot—which he had vacated in order to get Upamon some juice that he desperately 'needed' to have. "What do you want for Christmas?"_

" _Like a Secret Santa thing?" Azura asked, sounding a little disappointed that she was revealing who his Secret Santa was. She laughed and tapped his nose with her finger._

" _No," she protested, rolling her eyes. "Like a girlfriend thing. What do you want for Christmas? I figured if we were all celebrating, I might as well go all out."_

" _I don't know," Azura said, trying to think on the spot. "I guess I'd like anything if you made it. Homemade presents have so much more heart in them, you know?"_

" _That wasn't helpful at all," Emiko said, narrowing her eyes at him grouchily. He smiled innocently, and she stalked off._

Upamon was trying to figure out what to get for Salamon too, and he asked if I could help him knit a winter hat and a matching scarf, so that Salamon could have a homemade gift too. He was going to pick out the colours, but since he didn't have any hands, it would've been incredibly difficult for him to knit it on his own.

I had to learn _how_ to knit in order to help him, but Mom enjoyed the fact that it was something we could do together. She seemed to be having pre-separation anxiety. I hadn't even left yet, but she was acting as though I'd left and would never come back. This way, I got to help Upamon, _and_ Mom got to spend time with me. It was an efficient way to spend my spare time, since I didn't have a lot of it anymore. I had to keep studying as hard as I could. I couldn't start slacking now that I'd gotten into my dream school. That wasn't going to help my future.

"Thinking hard, or hardly thinking?" Azura asked me. I looked up to him. He was seated directly to my left and he was being excluded from the conversation between Monmon, Kotemon and Bearmon. I shook my head to clear out my worries and smile at him.

"It's nothing, Dr Saito," I assured him. He was a veterinarian, and he didn't seem to mind it when I addressed him properly. Everyone else flinched and complained that it made them feel old, but I wouldn't stop unless they asked me to call them something else specifically. That's what Mom taught me. Azura preened under the moniker though, proud of his accomplishments.

"Doesn't look like nothing," he said gently.

"Renjiro hasn't gotten his acceptance letter yet," I blurted out. I looked down, away from him and towards Upamon, embarrassed that I'd betrayed Renjiro's confidence. I didn't know if he'd told anyone that he hadn't been accepted. I didn't know if he wanted anyone to know.

"But yours came," Azura guessed. I nodded, feeling my eyes growing wet. I couldn't do this here. I couldn't cry in public. That wasn't proper. I didn't want anyone's attention on me. I wanted to suffer in silence, because no matter how sad I felt about it, I knew it was worse for Renjiro.

"Yeah," I said. "And we won't be together next year if his doesn't come, and I don't know what to do about that. How can we be _together_ if we aren't even in the same school?"

"Emiko and I didn't go to the same school," he pointed out, which was true. Emiko went to a dance academy, and Azura had graduated near the top of his class from the school I was heading to. I knew that if Renjiro had gotten accepted, I would have been peppering Azura with questions about the campus, and the classes, and the teachers. But Renjiro hadn't. And I was sad about it.

But I was still very excited about having been accepted myself. It was a very confusing time for me.

"We turned out alright," Azura said, gazing towards the stage with a sweet smile gracing his face. He was so very in love with Emiko, and while I didn't understand it, I appreciated it. He balanced her out in ways I hadn't thought was possible. It was amazing how they'd influenced each other just by being around one another. I knew that Renjiro and I had probably done the same, but since I didn't know what life was like without Renjiro, I couldn't be sure _how_ I had been changed.

"You did," I said, nodding. "But maybe his acceptance will still come."

"Don't they send them out at the same time?" he murmured, but I couldn't react. Renjiro was sitting down next to me. There was a hollow space in my chest, where his words had broken a hole into me. What if he was right? What if Renjiro didn't get to come with me to our dream school? Hadn't we promised to go to the same school?

" _We'll always be together, right?" Renjiro asked while we passed a ball back and forth on the ground. Upamon had it, and was trying to push it towards Renjiro. He had to hit it with his head, and ended up feeling dizzy with the force he put behind his head butt. I reached over to rub his wound while I looked to Renjiro._

" _Always is a really long time," I commented. We'd just finished third grade, and were feeling pretty proud of ourselves. But we were still just kids. Forever seemed like a long time._

" _I know," Renjiro said, blushing as he looked to the ball in his hands, before pushing it towards Bukamon. "But I think we'll be best friends forever. We'll always be together, right?"_

" _I'll always want to be your best friend," I assured him. I couldn't imagine life any differently. "We'll share a house in the future too. And we'll both be dentists."_

" _I'm supposed to be a doctor," Renjiro sighed sadly, thinking about his Grandfather's secret suggestions that Mr Kido wasn't supposed to know about._

" _A dentist is a type of doctor," I said. He perked up. "We'll save the humans, one cavity at a time."_

" _Sounds like fun," Renjiro said with a quiet laugh. "Does that mean we gotta go to_ more _school after we finish this one?"_

" _We've got a lot of school to do, yep," I sighed. "But don't worry. We'll do that together too."_

Would I be able to give up my dream school in order to attend one that he'd been accepted to? Would that choice benefit me in any way, or would I learn to resent that decision? Renjiro could possibly become an extension of that resentment, and I couldn't handle that.

"You okay?" Renjiro asked me, reaching out for my hand. Upamon snorted in his sleep and I almost managed a smile. But my heart was beating so fast. I was so confused.

"Fine," I lied. He could tell I was lying, so I didn't know why I tried. He frowned and squeezed my hand tightly, knowing I would tell him when I was ready. I told him everything, no matter how silly or embarrassing. I told him the really deep things too. They just took longer to share, that's all.

My Crest was Knowledge. Mr Izumi had given it to me because he thought I could handle it. There was a connection between the two of us, but I didn't understand what he meant. I didn't understand a lot of things, but I knew that for the sake of my Crest I shouldn't pick the inferior school.

But what if my heart and my Crest wanted different things?

I was so confused.

I stayed confused, even through the second half of Emiko's performance. I was confused enough to not show enough bitter reluctance when Emiko apologized for ruining the Secret Santa—having finally realized what Renjiro and I were acting so icily about. I couldn't wrap my head around what to do. I kissed Renjiro goodnight, ignoring the jeers and teasing coming from Mr and Mrs Kido, Monmon and especially Emiko, and climbed out of the car, cradling Upamon in my arms. I looked down to him and wished I could take hold of some of his carefree innocence. If I could just roll into a ball and sleep my cares away instead of stressing over my future, I would do it.

Growing up was _hard_.

But it wasn't like I could just not do it. Even if Mom wished I could.

The house was dark when I got inside, and I made sure to be quiet as I tiptoed through the living room. I stopped to put a blanket on Goblimon, who had obviously tried to wait up for me, and kissed his head, before heading to my room. I tucked Upamon into his little bed which was set up on my bedside table, and kissed him too, before texting Tenshi, not wanting to wake him if he was sleeping.

He called me seconds later though, so I knew he wasn't. I accepted the call and quickly put the phone to my ear. "How was it?" I asked before he could say anything.

"I moved on to the next round," he said breathily. "It went better than I thought it would. I would've liked it if you guys were there though. How was Emiko?"

"She was amazing," I gushed. "I knew she was good, but I didn't know _how_ good. I don't think I can look at another dancer the same way. She's raised the bar for me. There's no turning back now."

Tenshi laughed. "That's good. I'm glad you got to see her."

"But I'll be there for you next time," I promised. "There's no way I'm missing it. I'm really sorry I had to miss today."

"As long as you and Renjiro had fun, that's all that matters," he said kindly. He was the best. He really was. We talked only for a short time more, since it was pretty late, and I really needed to get to sleep. I had more studying to do in the morning.

And more stressing about the future too.

 **Featured Evolution Line: Kana:** Tsubamon—Upamon—Ryudamon—Ginryumon—Brachiomon—Cannondramon


	8. Opportunities

**Y/N:** Haruki was different. He was more thoughtful than I expected. I thought he'd end up more like his dad, and make some funny jokes here or there, but really, he took after Kurayami a lot more than I expected. I like him. I hope you like him too.

 **Title: Here Comes Santa Claus**

 **By: YukiraKing**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.**

 **Chapter 08: Opportunities**

 ** _Haruki Motomiya:_**

I was babysitting. It was _exactly_ what I wanted to be doing with my free time so close to finals. I couldn't even study, because I was too afraid to leave my seven year old little brother with his friend of choice: Izumi Fujimoto. She acted super sweet, and nice, but I just knew there was something lingering under the surface. It was the only explanation for why Yukai hated Iris and Madlyn so much, but couldn't get enough of Izumi.

The three of them were inseparable—well, except when Izumi was gracious enough to let two seven year olds hang around her instead of her usual nine year old twins.

"Wow, really?" Yukai asked in awe as Izumi regaled him with stories of the last trip she and her dads took. They were always travelling the worlds, finding new adventures to be had with just the three of them. I knew that Yukai was jealous, and often complained to Mom and Dad that we never did enough as a family. But I knew that would be a train wreck in the making. We couldn't handle half the things that Hideto and Kiyoko got up to. None of us were adrenaline junkies like Hideto—and now Izumi—was. I threw up on roller coasters, and Yukai couldn't even go on the merry-go-round without getting motion sickness. Mom literally freaked out at the _sight_ of mosquitoes, and Labramon couldn't go swimming without spending hours grooming himself afterwards, for fear of smelling like _wet dog_. Dad was annoyingly excited about everything, but didn't know the first thing about camping, and Veemon, DemiVeemon and Chibimon just liked to make nuisances of themselves.

And that was only our _last_ family vacation when we went camping for a single night before giving up and spending three hours the next day at an amusement park before packing everything up and giving in. I couldn't imagine spending a week away from our cozy home and routines. It was safer to just stay at home.

Yukai wasn't old enough to realize that yet though, and still thought any time spent crammed into a car listening to whatever radio station was available was the best thing ever.

I was _more_ than pleased that Mom and Dad had decided that we didn't need to take a day trip this year, because our big outing would be for Louisa's Secret Santa event. She was making a big production of it, and had managed to talk Taichi and Rei into letting the younger generation have their home for Christmas Eve. The only adults would be Emiko, Azura, Mai and myself—unless Renjiro and Kana counted. It was going to be great. It was a fantastic idea, and it really lent towards the general Christmas feeling of togetherness. We would all eat and sleep and share presents together. It was kind of the most exciting thing that had happened all year.

Granted, I was taking business classes at college, and they weren't nearly as interesting as I'd thought they'd be. But _someone_ needed to understand business, since Dad just decided to start one up back when he was my age. He still didn't understand a lot of the business aspects. He could figure it out, given enough time, and he was really good at faking his way through things, but I wanted to be there for him, and to understand what helped a business to continue to be successful. The last thing I wanted was for Dad's business to crumble under him. I had heard it happened once before when I was a baby, but he'd had so much less to lose back then. I wanted to be sure that his noodle-carts would continue to be prosperous throughout the worlds.

It might not be the only thing I wanted to do with my life, but since I'd grown up hearing about how I would take over the family business, I figured the least I could do was give it a shot. Yukai was still hung up on the idea of being a soccer star, so he wasn't even jealous or annoyed that I was the one that was being handed the reins. He didn't even _like_ noodles—which for Dad was practically blasphemous.

"Izumi sure has lots of fun," DemiVeemon said with a happy sigh, flopping down on top of the textbook I'd been reading. I smiled and looked at him. He winked at me, and took the edge of the page I'd been reading, and folded it up over himself like a blanket. "I think I'm going to take a nap."

"I think you're going to find somewhere else," I told him. He laughed, and wiggled until his head was under the paper blanket, even if that did leave his feet dangling out in the open. I went in for a stealth attack, ticking his sides and he screamed with laughter, letting go of the page, and I uncovered him, tickling him all the while.

"I give!" he cried, roaring with laughter. I stopped, because I'd won, and there was no reason to continue. "Don't you think it would be fun though, to see lots of different places?"

"Sometimes," I said, thinking that it would be best without my family along with me though. "I had an idea once, of traveling to different worlds and countries to see what culinary treats there are out there waiting to be tasted. I want to know how fruit from Sidhendor might work well in an upside down cake, a recipe originating on Earth. I want to experiment with blending flavours of the worlds."

"Can I come?" he asked.

"I'm not going to go," I said with a sigh. "I've got too much schooling left."

"Go after," DemiVeemon suggested. "I might be bigger then."

"Don't hold your breath," I warned him. I had the Crest of Love, and it was the hardest thing in the world to figure out. How was I supposed to deal with something so multi-faceted? I remembered that it hadn't been easy for Sora either though, and that made me feel better about the whole thing.

" _I feel like I'm being unfair to you," Sora said, as she sat next to me on the bench at the park. I'd fallen over and she'd put a bandage on my knee. I wanted to go out and play some more, but Sora's words confused me into staying still. I quirked my head at her, urging her to explain herself. "I'm giving you my Crest one day. You're not ready for it yet. Or maybe I'm just not ready to give it to you. But it's not fair either way. I had so much trouble with it."_

" _Love isn't hard," I said, shaking my head. I loved Mom and Dad, and I loved DemiVeemon. I loved Mai, because she was my bestest friend in the whole wide world, and she loved me too. What else did I need?_

" _There are so many kinds of love you need to understand," Sora told me seriously. "I overlooked that for a long time. There is more than just romantic love."_

" _What's that?" I wanted to know. My five year old brain refused to understand it without further explanation._

" _It's when you love someone in a way that is different than you love friends or family," Sora explained._

" _Like Mom and Dad?" I guessed._

" _Like Mom and Dad," she agreed. I crinkled my nose and stuck out my tongue in disgust. I didn't want to_ kiss _anyone. That was gross. She laughed. "There's more than that, don't worry. You've got to figure them out for yourself though. I'm probably not supposed to explain it all to you."_

She didn't explain anything. But Takeru did, unwittingly. I read his books, and learned the things that Sora learned through his words. She learned that romantic love isn't everything, and that there are so many things that deserved her attention. The only problem for me, was that I _did_ love myself, and I love my family and I still loved my best friends—Mai and DemiVeemon. There was nothing but romantic love left, really, unless patriotism counted, because I still didn't know what world to call home.

And I still didn't have a love life worth writing home about.

DemiVeemon had never digivolved even to Rookie yet. I didn't know what that said about me, but I figured I wouldn't be finding the answers in Takeru's books. The Crests, I had decided, worked differently for each person. While Sora needed to focus on love that _wasn't_ romantic, I assumed I probably would have to go the opposite route, which would have been great, except I didn't have a lot of options open to me.

No.

That wasn't entirely true. I wasn't the most popular guy on campus or anything, not by a long shot really, but it wasn't due to lack of options that I didn't have a girlfriend. It was because I already knew who I wanted and I'd blown it with her. No one else was as lively or as spunky as her, and so they paled in comparison. It was wretched, but it was fair. I'd hurt her first.

"Taro likes that game too," Yukai said loudly. "Maybe we could all play it together?"

"That sounds fun," Izumi agreed.

"Taro likes a lot of games, but he doesn't get to play them at home, because Josei always gets the TV. How mean is that?" Yukai said, shaking his head. "I wouldn't steal the TV from Haruki like she does, that's not nice."

I snorted, remembering when he was just a toddler and was so fascinated by that channel on TV that just shows a picture of a burning fire all day, every day. He spent months wailing if the fireplace wasn't on the TV. It was torture. And he was so lying to Izumi.

He was literally always talking about Taro though. I was starting to question the limits of his vocabulary. It was absolutely ridiculous just how many things I knew about Taro without ever knowingly sitting down and talking to the little guy.

" _Taro likes pumpkin pie, isn't that weird?"_

" _Taro told me that vinegar makes baking soda explode...wanna try it?"_

" _Once, I heard from Taro, that there weren't any Hawkmons other than Miyako's, how weird is that?"_

" _Sometimes, I wish that you would take me and Taro camping, just the three of us, wouldn't that be fun."_

" _Haruki, Taro wasn't at school today. Do you think he's sick? Can we make him chicken noodle soup? Will you help me?"_

It was exhausting, it was also embarrassing, because I knew I'd been the exact same way with Mai when I was his age. She was the best person to ever have been born because she was my best friend, and _nothing_ trumped best friend back then. Now, we were both completely bombarded with school work and becoming real adults, and we didn't have nearly as much time together as we might have liked, but it was okay, because she was bringing Taro over, and everything was going to be awesome.

"I'll be big _someday_ ," DemiVeemon said grumpily, crossing his arms, before dashing off to taunt Chibimon with the fact that he was an In-Training, instead of a Baby.

The sound of the doorbell rang through the room, and was immediately followed by the sound of the front door opening. Mai had long since gotten over her need to wait for someone to answer the door. She'd gotten over it when we were six, around the time she'd gotten her first notepad and wanted me to be her first interview.

She still had that interview in a drawer back at her place, and she got it out about once a year to have a good laugh at all the stupid, childish things I had to say about...well...everything.

" _What's your favourite food?"_

" _I hafta say noodles, cause Dad makes 'em," I said dutifully._

" _What do you wanna be when you grow up?"_

" _Taller than my dad," I said with a proud grin._

" _What's two times two?"_

" _Seven or something, I don't know," I said, wrinkling my nose._

" _What's your favourite thing in the whole wide world?"_

" _DemiVeemon," I said quickly, without needing to think about it. "Duh. He's my favourite of_ all _the worlds."_

" _Do you have a girlfriend?"_

" _Ew, who wants one of those? I wanna new soccer ball instead. Can I have one? Is that my prize?"_

I was an idiot, but to be fair, her questions were random and out of left field. I mean, she didn't have a common theme at all, and I was six—of _course_ I was an idiot.

"Haruki?" Mai called, waltzing right into the living room, and dropping her bag on top of my textbook. I knew I wasn't getting any more studying done anyway. Taro trailed in behind her, looking embarrassed by Mai's bold behaviour, and was looking carefully around for Yukai, while holding his partner, Leafmon. His face came to life when he spotted my brother, and he suddenly lost any sense of shyness as he ran towards him.

"Yukai!" he cried.

"Taro!" Yukai replied excitedly, looking like Christmas had come early. I hoped he could channel that much excitement when Christmas actually _did_ come. I didn't want him to make his Secret Santa upset just because they weren't Taro, and the sun didn't rise and set at their command the way he seemed to think it did for Taro.

"Izumi!" Izumi called half sarcastically and half enthusiastically. It was an odd mix, but then again, she was an odd girl.

"Hello, Izumi," Taro said, when he realized she was there. She looked mollified by the attention. "Should we play the new zombie game?"

"No," Izumi said, shaking her head.

"What's up?" Mai said, picking up the tennis racket I left leaning against the wall. She gave it a few experimental swings—nearly destroying the lamp in the process—and set it back down again. "You practicing to be the next superstar?"

"I haven't practiced in weeks," I admitted guiltily.

"But your scholarship," Mai gasped. "You don't want to risk losing it."

"I know," I said, sheepishly. We were attending the same school, both on scholarships. Mine was obviously for tennis, but Mai had a whole slew of scholarships she needed to upkeep. I wondered how she managed it, because just tennis was hard. "I'm hoping not to. But my heart just isn't in it right now."

"No, there wouldn't be enough room in there for anything more than _you-know-who_ ," she said teasingly. "Have you called her yet? You should totally call her."

"I don't want to talk about Louisa," I sighed.

"We're totally going to talk about her," Mai said with a snort. I knew I had no choice but to give in. She was quite nosey, but she always got to the point, and I always came away feeling as though I had a deeper understanding of myself. It was strangely therapeutic. It was also dangerous. Not for me, but for the people she would one day interview for her hard hitting journalism career.

"Oh, I know what we can do," Izumi decided suddenly. "We can play that new zombie game."

I paused. Hadn't that suggestion _just_ been turned down? I couldn't keep up with Yukai anymore. I kind of felt old, and that wasn't a good feeling for me. I wasn't even at the prime of my life yet! Sometimes, the age difference between Yukai and I seemed bigger than it was. Rarely, the opposite was true. Yukai wasn't the worlds' most mature seven-year-old by a _long_ shot.

Mai sighed, when Taro said "That's a great idea!" before the three hurried off with their partners, Poromon and DemiVeemon. Yukai looked confused as they headed off, but he followed after Taro when Taro grabbed his hand and dragged him along. Izumi was leading the way with a sassiness to her walk that was terrifying."I don't understand that girl," Mai muttered.

"I don't even try to," I admitted with a soft laugh, even though we both knew it wasn't true. We'd figured her out mostly. We just didn't want to accuse her of anything unless we were sure. Mai and I were pretty confident with our deductive skills though and were pretty sure she was dealing both sides of the war between Yukai and Taro, and Iris and Madlyn. Both pairs seemed to think the other hated them, and that Izumi was their spy. It sounded ridiculous when voiced out loud, and we could never be sure when Izumi was listening, so we always played up our clueless nature when she was around, _just in case_. It was pointless, and stupid, but it was fun.

Mai grinned at me, and didn't hold her laughter back one bit. It was good to see her so happy. She'd been so stressed with everything lately. It looked like she'd figured most of it out. "Have you told anyone?" I asked, lowering my voice, just in case there were any lingering ears listening.

"No," Mai said shaking her head. "I'm not ready yet."

"Take your time," I said encouragingly. "Don't rush anything. Once you say it, you can't take it back—not that you'll want to."

"I know," she said with a wry smile. "Why else would it be taking me so long?"

"So, how's the hunt for the perfect Secret Santa present going?" I asked, sensing she didn't want to talk about it anymore than I wanted to talk about Louisa—probably _less_ even.

"Renjiro's too worked up about school that he won't even want a present anyway," Mai said grumpily, angry that she still had absolutely no ideas for the guy. We obviously had no plans to tell Louisa that we were sharing information. It was against the only rule she'd set for us, and I didn't like making her mad. "Earth to Haruki? You in there, or are you lost in Louisa-land?"

"There's no such place," I said moodily.

"You should just talk to her," she told me, patting me on the shoulder.

" _You_ should talk to her," I snipped back, before my eyes widened and I was taking it back. "Nope. You are forbidden from talking to her for me. Not in a million years can you do that."

"I know," she said with a laugh. "You need to do this on your own. I still don't understand why you didn't accept her offer last year. You could be _happy_ right now."

"I am happ—I'm _relatively_ happy," I said just to be contrary. "I'm working to get a degree that I'm not sure I really want, and my partner can't even become a Rookie because I can't seem to understand what sounds like the simplest of Crests, but really isn't. But other than that, I'm happy."

"You could be happier," she protested.

"It's complicated," I lied. It really hadn't been all that complicated at all.

" _How are you and Megumi going to make the transition from high school to college?" I asked my friend. He laughed and shook his head._

" _We're not," he said. "We just started dating. There's no way we'll last long distance. We're not even going to try."_

" _Seriously?" I asked, because he'd been going on about her for weeks leading up to their first date. They seemed to hit it off, and they really cared about each other. That was worth taking a chance for, wasn't it?_

" _Dude," he said. "I could be in love with her, but it won't matter. We can't go to different schools and still expect to work. We'll be different people after only a few months. There's no point dragging out the inevitable. I'd say you should just give up on that girl. If Megumi and I can't last, there's no way you've got enough time to make something stable. Save yourself the regret, man."_

" _Yeah," I said hollowly._

"Un-complicate it," Mai told me simply.

"I was graduating, she's only a junior, there's an age difference that needs to be dealt with, and the long distance thing. We're in different schools," I said lamely, wincing when she snorted. I knew it was stupid, that's why I didn't want to tell her.

"You've never gone to the same school," she pointed out. "It always would've been long distance—sort of. Louisa's over here almost every day to hang out with her friends. Seriously, you missed out. She really cared about you and you hurt her."

"I know," I said, feeling like even more of an idiot for listening to a friend that I didn't even talk to anymore. He wasn't right. Louisa and I might've been different than him and Megumi. Louisa and I both had Crests, and our parents were friends, so we would've seen each other all the time. We still _could_ see each other, if I hadn't been trying to avoid her, due to embarrassment.

"Now, what are you getting Elliot for Christmas, and is there a way to swing it so that your gift impresses her, even though it's not _for_ her?" Mai asked, starting to scheme.

"No," I said with a scoff. "They've got everything they've ever wanted."

"Fine," she said, holding her hands up in defense. "If you don't want my help, don't _ask_ for it."

"I _didn't_ ," I argued. She smiled and started laughing again.

"I know."

 **Featured Evolution Line: Haruki:** Chibomon—Demiveemon—Gumdramon—(Gold) Veedramon—Magnamon—OmegaShoutmon


	9. Sixteen Candles

**U/N:** So as much as I loved writing Tenshi I had a rather difficult time writing as Hiro who was just immensely more stressful. Going into this story I said I wanted ONE thing, and that was to have that one teenager who screams at the top of their lungs about pointlessness and vents themselves in that way, and that person became Hiro. I was skeptical about having a Takari kid be so... aggressive, but it kind of works in a way, so I do like it. I rather disliked Hiro for a while, until getting a chance to write this chapter, so it was nice to finally stop thinking so negatively about our own character...

 **Title: Here Comes Santa Claus**

 **By: UrazamayKing**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.**

 **Chapter 09: Sixteen Candles**

 _ **Hiro Takaishi:**_

I didn't think it was very fair that Tenshi got a day dedicated entirely to him when we were supposed to be enjoying time as a family with our current proximity to Christmas. I mean, sure it was his birthday, but my birthday had been only a month ago and Dad wasn't even _here_. He had to be on some book tour, and maybe I didn't complain at the time, but it was still unfair.

Mom had told me it would be okay if I invited my friends over but Nikko and Elliot had both been grounded, Makoto was in New York with his Gran watching some Broadway production and Osamu was no fun to be around alone. It ended up being a nice night in the worst way.

" _Hiro, I'm sorry you're having a bad day," Mom said as she brushed her fingers through my hair. I was lying on the couch with my head on her lap and maybe I'd cried a little, and maybe she'd noticed, but she was too kind to say. I closed my eyes and tried to find a way to be happy with the current circumstances._

" _It's the worst day," I said bitterly. "This wouldn't happen to Tenshi."_

 _I heard Mom take a slow breath and I knew she was sad for me, but if she wasn't I probably would have been taking my anger out on her. That was something I did sometimes. I didn't mean to, but somehow it was always her or Tenshi that got the brunt of my rage. I just relaxed to the feeling of her touch in my hair because somehow it made me feel like she really_ did _care, and I stayed that way for a while._

 _I was only stirred from my relaxed state when Patamon and Tokomon came running into the room, "Hiro we made a cake!" they exclaimed. I looked up to Mom who seemed hopeful. I hopped off the couch and followed them to the kitchen where, amidst the mess they created, Gatomon was putting the finishing touches on the cake they had made. It was tall and tilted, and looked like maybe they had thrown up on it. My stomach twisted as my last hopes faded out and I sat down to eat the cake._

 _As it turned out, they used salt instead of sugar, so I excused myself and stayed in my bedroom the rest of the night, lying on my bed with Tokomon silently wondering if I was okay._

That had been only one of the many nights that I had gotten an overwhelming urge to go sit in Tenshi's room and talk like we used to, but I didn't think he would appreciate it much. He was always timid and gave me that wounded look whenever I was in the room, like he was unsure whether I'd blow up on him or not. I wasn't a scary guy and I didn't do it that often, so I didn't know why he was so wary around me. I was a nice guy usually.

Though I could probably list a _few_ instances where I hadn't been exactly _kind_ to Tenshi , but I guess it was good Ken hadn't given me my crest then. Jou had, which Dad had only recently reminded me.

" _Why weren't you there?" Dad asked, his arms crossed as he and Mom stood over me. They had sat me on a chair in the kitchen like some kind of interrogation and I hated it._

" _To be honest," I told him, "I don't give a crap whether Tenshi gets into that school or not, so why would I go?"_

 _Mom looked saddened by my response which just made me feel guilty all over again. "You should have gone because Tenshi was expecting your support," Mom said in such a broken sort of voice. I responded only by groaning and rolling my eyes. Of course we had to bow down to Tenshi's whims. I didn't care if he was expecting my support. I had a life too, and I'd been looking forward to that party for weeks._

" _It shouldn't matter_ why _," Dad said, his arms still folded in his 'I'm mad at you' way. "You promised you would go, and you didn't. Why aren't you taking your crest seriously, Hiro? You need to keep your promises—not just because of your crest, but because if you don't then no one will ever have any faith in you." I was expected to show up to the party down the street and I_ did _, but no one cared that I kept true to_ that _promise. "I don't see why you can't be more like Tenshi."_

 _I ground my teeth, too angry to speak. Why did it always have to come back to Tenshi? Why did it matter if I wasn't as good a person as Tenshi? Why did anyone care about_ that _part of me, but nothing else?_

I had been grounded of course, because I 'hurt Tenshi's feelings' or something stupid. Tenshi didn't say anything, so I didn't even know if it was true. Mom and Dad didn't care if it was true though, they were trying to teach me a lesson. Too bad that was the only lesson they'd ever bothered to teach me. 'Be more like Tenshi'.

What if I didn't relate to Tenshi? What if I had nothing in common with him? What if I just didn't _want_ to be more like Tenshi? He was boring. Sure he was talented, smart, hardworking and kind, but I had good qualities too. I was a lot of fun, usually people laughed when I was around and I always put my friends first. I thought that might be the real issue. I put my friends above Mom, Dad and Tenshi. I knew Tenshi was better with Salamon than I was with Tokomon, but I didn't _mean_ to be awful at it, it was just _hard_. I _loved_ him though, so wasn't that enough? Didn't that mean I was a good partner?

Well, if I was such a good partner, why was Tokomon sitting out there at the table with Tenshi?

I leaned against the doorframe, looking through the living room and straight into the dining room where Tenshi had a beautiful cake set out in front of him. I could hear Louisa singing some song about how it was Tenshi's birthday which was just silly, and Kana and Renjiro were holding hands under the table, probably thinking no one could see them. And of course the digimon—Salamon, Tokomon, Bukamon, Upamon, Hopmon, Gatomon and Patamon—were making up one end of the table together, looking up over the edge—aside from Upamon who was actually sitting _on_ the table, which was also unfair because I was scolded every time I did that—toward the cake.

It just wasn't fair that Tenshi got to have a perfect birthday when mind had gone so poorly. I heard Mom warn someone to be careful, and Haruki appeared, holding a big lighter to light the sixteen candles that made up most of Tenshi's cake. What was he even doing here? Since when did Tenshi and Haruki have anything in common at all? Dad probably suggested it because he wanted to teach me a really particular lesson. Nikko couldn't come over—even though he was our _cousin_ —because Dad was too scared that Nikko would wander off to hang out with _me_ instead of Tenshi. Well, he was _right_ , because I knew Nikko would, but it wasn't fair.

I had almost convinced him to let Aika—or even _Shouta_ —come over instead, but he caught on to the plan, realizing I was just desperate for someone to talk to, but apparently I wouldn't learn my lesson though. I was supposedly going to be grounded until Louisa's Christmas party, but that just felt like it was going to be a hundred years from now.

I would have been able to convince Mom to shorten my sentence too if I hadn't been so angry before. They had just scolded me for yelling at Tenshi and punching a hole in the wall, but Mom had managed to get me free from the grounding, but when I skipped the audition it was apparently _too_ far.

" _This isn't fair!" I shouted, storming down the hallway, "What if I have plans or something?"_

" _Cancel them," Dad called after me._

" _You want me to be a loser!" I screamed, rounding back on him, "How am I supposed to be keep my friends if I'm locked in my room forever!?"_

" _It's_ four _days, Hiro," Dad tried to reason._

 _I didn't care. I turned back to my bedroom, and flung myself through the door, nearly tripping over the pile of dirty laundry near the doorway and scraping my arm against the computer desk that was pressed against the wall. Pure anger coursed through me and I turned to the door and dropped my jaw, "YOU'RE RUINING MY LIFE!" And then I had slammed the door shut_.

I knew it had been a bit dramatic, but while these things happened it always seemed like the right thing to do or say. It was like I lost all control of myself. I narrowed my eyes to a glare as Tenshi sliced a thin piece of cake for Tokomon, handing it to him and making him happy. I was pleased to see Tokomon so enthusiastic, but I just hated that Tenshi was the one helping him feel that way. It should be me.

"You're allowed to join them," Dad said, creeping up on me. I turned to him and refused to lessen my glare. His eyebrows raised into the air, "This is Tenshi's birthday, you should be there for him."

"Where was he on _mine_?" I asked, annoyed.

Dad gave me _the_ look. "Hiro, he was signing up for the auditions. You know that, it was really important."

I nodded my head bitterly. Stupid Tenshi and his stupid cello. "So where were you?" I asked. I had caught him off guard, and I took that as my cue to leave, and I strode across the living room to where I sat on the couch, reaching for the remote. Dad moved quicker and grabbed it from me. "Oh come _on_ ," I groaned.

"You're supposed to be grounded," Dad said, placing the remote on the arm of the couch, "You should be thinking about your actions and brainstorming better ways to deal with your anger. You should also be clearing your schedule for the twenty-seventh because Tenshi was called for the final audition."

Without my control my head fell straight back and a loud groan escaped my mouth. "So I get off grounding just to go to Tenshi's dumb audition?" Dad was looking to me like I'd just insulted him or something. "Why don't you just keep me grounded until after that too? Maybe forever since I don't get a say in what I do anyway."

"I'll talk to your mother," Dad said, sitting next to the remote. For a brief moment I thought he was going to let me get out of the stupid audition. "I wouldn't mind you being grounded indefinitely. We could use a stay-at-home maid. Patamon's no good at cleaning." Of course he was joking, but that didn't make it any less insulting. He didn't even consider letting me have my own mind to make my own decisions. Was there an exact moment where everything in my life began to suck? I couldn't pinpoint an exact moment but I knew it could have something to do with Mom and Dad caring about Tenshi and _not_ me.

"I heard that Takeru!" Patamon called from the dining room. Dad grinned, his tongue between his teeth, and he leaned to the side and craning his neck to see Patamon. I reacted quickly, reaching out with my hand for the remote. As I was pulling it away, it nudged Dad's leg and he looked sharply toward me.

His hand flew out expectantly and I sighed, giving him the remote in defeat. "Why don't you do something productive with your time?"

"Why don't you give my computer cord back to me so I can go to the Digital World?" I asked in retaliation.

"I think you can figure out why that might not happen," Dad said, patting my shoulder as he made his way to the dining room to spend time with Tenshi on his birthday. As he made his way through the door he bumped into someone who apologized like a hundred times before Dad assured him it was okay. It turned out to be Renjiro and he made his way through the living room without noticing me at all. I was bored, so I followed him and found him slump down on a stool in the kitchen where no one could see him. Aside from me of course.

I found it weird that he was being so reclusive so I crept up on him and looked over his shoulder where he was holding his phone and scrolling down some web page that looked really official. That was a weird thing to be doing at a party, but then again it was Jou's kid. He was weird too. He told me so even.

" _Wait," I said skeptically, looking up to him as he reached his hand out to me. I swatted his hand away, feeling concerned. "So you're gonna give me your crest?" Jou nodded. "And what if I don't want it?"_

 _Jou tightened his lips and knelt down to be eye level with me. "I didn't want it either," he admitted in a very quiet voice. "I've never told anyone that, but when I found out I was destined to carry the weight of this trait on_ my _shoulders, I just wanted to yell at them and tell them that my shoulders weren't strong enough to carry what they expected me to. I didn't have that choice, but in the end I showed the world that it was right about me. I_ could _do it. You can too." I still felt a little worried and Jou seemed to know that. "But you get the choice, Hiro. I don't know what will happen if I die with this crest. No one does, but I don't want to_ make _you take the responsibility. There may be someone else that can do it."_

" _B—but then I won't be a hero," I told him nervously._

 _Jou shook his head, "You're already a hero," he promised, "You don't need to save the world to be a hero. You don't need to save lives to be a hero either. As long as you're living your life honestly and caring about the people and doing everything in a way that one day you will be proud of, you're a hero."_

" _So..." I said, nodding my head, "If I take your crest, will I have to... be weird like you?"_

 _Jou snorted and I felt embarrassed, "No," he said, suppressing a grin, "All you have to do is be faithful. Believe in yourself, believe in others and always give them reason to believe in_ you _."_

 _I smiled, "I can do that."_

" _As long as you're not weird like me," Jou said, laughing still. "You're sure?" I nodded my head and he smiled, happy with my decision._

"What are you doing?" I asked sharply, startling Renjiro into fumbling his phone. It fell to the counter and skidded toward the cookie jar that I wasn't allowed to eat out of until I was done being grounded. I was pretty sure denying a child cookies was illegal or something, but Mom and Dad weren't so sure. I grabbed the phone for him and handed it to him. He thanked me and nervously ensured that the screen was blank so I couldn't see what he was looking at. "What are you doing?"

Renjiro looked over his shoulder to ensure no one was coming up behind him. "I was... looking at the college forum to see if anyone else had yet to receive their acceptance letters."

"Oh yeah, you didn't get in that big school," I remembered, "Forgot about that." Renjiro's eyes widened in horror but I shrugged it off. I couldn't read emotions well. "So what did you find?" I asked, pulling a stool toward me to sit on.

Renjiro seemed unwilling to answer, but when it was entirely clear that I was going nowhere until he did, he finally said, "Nothing." It was like he was admitting this deep dark secret, but I didn't see how it was that important. It was just _school_. I had a couple years to go before I had to really think about my career anyway. I'd let future Hiro deal with that problem. "No one said anything. Everyone is talking about their acceptances and how excited they are to go. I even posted a question myself and no one responded to me."

"No one?" I asked in disbelief. Renjiro handed me his phone. I unlocked it and saw Renjiro's question written at the top of the screen. _'Hello, my name is Renjiro Kido. My best friend received her college application and I have yet to get one myself. I was wondering if I'm being paranoid by making the assumption that I have not passed the acceptance requirements. This is urgent because I need to know whether I should be speaking with other schools. Could someone help me understand if I am alone in not receiving my reply? Thank you.'_ My first thought was that maybe no one had seen it, but he had posted it six days ago and there was over a thousand people on the site at that moment if the counter in the top was to believed. "That's horrible." I told Renjiro, giving him his phone back.

I still wasn't sure how school could be that important, but Renjiro sure thought it was. Renjiro couldn't say anything though because Louisa had come into the room and was spinning around, as if she were dancing to some upbeat fun song that was only playing in her head. She finally reached her destination, which was the refrigerator and she pulled the freezer door open. She grabbed a massive tub of ice cream and grinned when she saw us.

As she was walking back toward the door, Haruki popped up, looking confused. When he saw Louisa he froze and she stopped dancing, embarrassed about holding like a hundred pounds of ice cream. Sure, it was probably only like three pounds, but it was still embarrassing. Haruki cleared his throat, "D-do you have a bathroom?"

He was talking to me now. "No," I told him sarcastically. "We use the sink." Haruki narrowed his eyes in a funny way and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at him. "It's down the hall." He thanked me with his eyes and then retreated, leaving me alone with Renjiro and Louisa.

Louisa clicked her tongue and leaned back against the fridge, dipping her finger into the now open ice cream. "Boys," she sighed, sounding like someone had run her over with a car like twelve times. Well she didn't sound dead, so it would have to be a special car that was designed to never kill someone though. I didn't want to talk about relationship drama because I had _none_ and still had to put up with enough of it with Makoto, Nikko and Elliot. It was only Osamu who really understood what it was like to _not_ be obsessed with girls all the time.

As I was leaving the kitchen I found Tenshi looking for the others. He stopped just short of running into me and slipped aside, letting me pass. If Dad saw that he probably would have yelled at me for not getting out of _Tenshi's_ way instead. See, Tenshi was the god of our household and everyone was supposed to treat him with respect and adoration. "Hiro," Tenshi said, stopping me in my tracks. "There's cake if you want some."

I looked back to him, just over my shoulder though, to let him know that I didn't actually care enough to fully give him my attention. "I'm not even allowed cookies, I'm sure I'm not going to be able to have cake."

"I already asked Mom," Tenshi said, and I saw that he was smiling. Why was he smiling? Why did he have to be so annoying? It was _his_ fault that I wasn't allowed to do anything and he was just rubbing it in now.

I turned away, "Well I'm not having any," I snapped, "I don't want to risk being banished for eating too noisily or something." Tenshi didn't respond and I could tell he had that sad look on his face that he always got when I talked to him. "This is your fault, you know," I said, finally turning back to him, and feeling anger build up because of Tenshi's wounded look. "I didn't go to your audition and I get in trouble."

"But I didn't ask them to ground you," Tenshi tried to reason, "I never asked you to come to my—"

"I don't _care_ what _you_ did Tenshi," I growled, "And that's the problem. Mom and Dad care _too_ much and I don't care enough so _I'm_ in the wrong. Good job on your cello playing, I guess? I just don't _care_. I shouldn't be punished for not caring about your stupid music."

Tenshi hesitated, not sure how to reply, and finally settled on nodding his head, "Okay, I'm sorry."

I rolled my eyes and turned around to storm off to my room. Instead of an empty hallway I found Dad standing there looking all too frustrated with me. I groaned but otherwise pretended I couldn't see him. As I made my way passed him and his folded arms held tightly across his chest he said in a quiet voice, "Why can't you just be kinder to your brother?" there was a pause as I ignored him. "Tenshi's always been nice to you."

There it was. _"Why can't you be more like Tenshi?"_

I turned back to Dad snarling but he saw me coming. "Go to your room," he said flatly.

"I'm already _going_ ," I snapped. "You don't have to tell me to get out of here. I don't want to celebrate another year of Tenshi's life. It's not even an accomplishment. He just sits around and smiles and we're all forced to worship him or something—"

"Hiro," Dad said, looking entirely flabbergasted that I couldn't see his point. Well I may look harder if he would bother to look at _mine_. "I may be revisiting this indefinite grounding idea."

I felt my eyes widen with rage and I let out a strangled scream of anger before storming away to my bedroom and standing in the doorway. "You're ruining my life," I told him, quiet enough so the others couldn't hear, but loud and angry enough that maybe— _just maybe_ —he would understand for once. I slammed the door before he could reply and pressed my back against the closed door, letting my anger fester and grow into something more.

" _Why can't you be more like Tenshi?"_

" _Tenshi's always been nice to you."_

" _Hiro, you need to find a better way to vent your anger than to yell at Tenshi or your mother."_

" _Tenshi is amazing at the cello and you should respect that."_

" _Maybe if you had a hobby, like Tenshi's cello, you would understand what it's like."_

I found myself creeping out of my room silently and walking through the open door right across the hall. I strode right across the bare hardwood floor after closing the door and fell to my knees in front of the big black cello case. I popped it open without hesitation and pulled out the big instrument and the bow that went along with it.

Tenshi's room had long since been soundproofed, so I knew it would be safe to try, but as I sat down I realized I didn't even know how to hold the stupid thing. I had seen Tenshi do it before, but it was a lot more complicated than it looked. When I finally settled on a comfortable position I readied the bow and began playing. Only horrid squealing sounds came from the instrument, like it was yelling at me and refusing me. It couldn't be that hard. It was just like rubbing the bow along the strings, so why wasn't it working right?

I grabbed a piece of sheet music from Tenshi's desk and stared to the mess of symbols, confused. What did that even meant? It was like a different language you had to learn to be able to play instruments and that was stupid.

I chucked the bow at his bed in frustration and made my way back to the case to put the cello back, but stopped. What if the cello didn't go back? What if Tenshi couldn't find it? Then he couldn't practice? Of course they'd know it was me who hid it, and I'd tell them where it was, but the initial panic could be kind of funny.

I put the sheet music back and closed the case, leaving it empty, then grabbed the bow again, making my way back to the door. I poked my head out the door and saw no one, so I moved quickly and heaved the heavy instrument across the hall and into my bedroom. I closed my door softly so no one would hear and I climbed over all the junk on the floor. As I made my way to the stairs at the other end of the room I stepped on one of Tokomon's toy cars and nearly fell flat on my face. My heart was slamming in my chest as I caught myself on the railing.

I took a moment to relax and then looked down the stairs. These stairs led to the basement rec room, and there was another set just outside the kitchen. I couldn't be sure that no one was down there from here. "Hello?" I called, but no one responded. That was good enough for me. It was annoying that someone had opened the door at the bottom though. I usually kept it closed, but it may have been opened for Tokomon to get out, so I couldn't be too mad.

I made my way down the stairs, wondering if maybe Dad was in his office that was off an extension of the rec room, and panicked, trying to think up an excuse in case he caught me.

And then I missed a step.

I clamped my mouth shut so I didn't scream and draw attention, but I was falling and all at once I had hit the carpeted floor of the rec room. The carpet was over concrete, and apparently that was hard enough to break a cello?

The cello shattered underneath me, breaking into like a billion pieces or something.

My heart was beating like crazy and in my panic I didn't even notice that one piece of the wood had stabbed itself into my leg. I pulled it out and winced. Oh crap. I had to fix my leg _and_ clean up a cello, _and_ come up with some burglar story to get out of this one.

 **Featured Evolution Line: Hiro:** Poyomon—Tokomon—DemiDevimon—Devimon—Volcamon—BanchoGolemon


	10. Not Built In A Day

**Y/N:** Wow, so Nikko wasn't very likable in previous chapters, and I was meant to give a bit of insight to his character here. I hope you're able to understand him a little bit better, but keep in mind his parents are the rash Taichi and the impulsive Rei. He's bound to get into trouble on a regular basis.

 **Title: Here Comes Santa Claus**

 **By: YukiraKing**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.**

 **Chapter 10: Not Built In A Day**

 _ **Nikko Yagami:**_

"So this might have been the worst idea you've ever had," Makoto said dryly. We were sitting on a dusty floor in a clay building. The ceilings were low, and there was a single window that allowed the deceptively cold night air to come through and chill us all to the bone. I had Koromon tucked into my t-shirt so that he could stay warm, but it wasn't helping _me_ all that much.

Who knew Egypt ever got cold? Certainly not me.

"You're the one that went along with it," I reminded him. Elliot laughed, and Osamu just curled around Minomon and sighed. I felt really bad about what happened. It didn't do it on purpose. How was I supposed to know that we'd get thrown into prison? Wasn't everyone used to people just popping up out of the woodwork? Travelling between worlds was a common occurrence back at home. It honestly didn't occur to me to think that it wasn't something that happened all that often a thousand years ago.

"I don't want to die in the past," Chapmon cried from Elliot's lap.

"We're not going to die," I said firmly. "We're going to get out of here. I know we are."

"Tell me when you come up with a plan so we can ignore it, okay?" Osamu said bitterly. It was the angriest I had ever heard him. He didn't sound _that_ angry, not like Mom when Pal and Pul taught me to do the laundry and we ended up nearly drowning in soap suds. But he didn't seem overly happy either.

"It was a good plan!" I insisted.

" _Hurry, go," I urged Makoto, while Elliot distracted Mimi, having drawn the short straw. Osamu was chatting with Chika, which was what I wanted to be doing, but I didn't draw the right straw. I was on guard duty, to make sure Koushiro didn't show up and blow the whole thing._

" _On it," Makoto said, as he snuck up the stairs and down the hallway. He was going into his parents' bedroom, where he was going to go into his mother's jewelry box and steal the key of Time. Mimi had been keeping it with her for forever. I knew, because I complained to Dad when I tricked him into giving me a tour of the Council Hall earlier that day, hoping to swipe the key then._

 _That one was a bust._

 _We couldn't afford to fail a second time. Osamu's voice was getting closer, and I straightened my shirt, just in case Chika came over, but Osamu was able to distract her by asking her about Egypt, which she was happy to fill him in on. That joy in her voice as she told him about pickling the insides of pharaohs was the reason we were doing this in the first place._

" _Got it," Makoto called as he raced down the stairs. "ELLIOT! We're leaving."_

" _It was so nice to talk to you, Mimi," Elliot said happily. "We'll have to do it again sometime. You tell the greatest stories of my dad when he was my age."_

" _I probably shouldn't have told you all of that," Mimi realized, hearing the mischievous tone in his voice. "Get back here Elliot. You can't leave until you promise not to tell Michael!"_

" _I can't really promise that, Mimi," Elliot said with a laugh, as he raced towards the front door. Osamu trailed behind him, with a sticker of a pyramid on his forehead. I snickered, and he sighed._

" _Don't ask," he pleaded. We didn't have time to, anyway. We just grabbed our partners, and raced outside, and around the house, towards the backyard. No one would suspect us of being there, so it was the perfect place. Mimi thought we were going to be at my house, my parents thought we'd be at the Ichijouji's place, Osamu told his mom we were going to America to stay at Elliot's, and Elliot told his folks we'd be at Mimi's. We couldn't include Hiro, because he was grounded, which sucked, but we couldn't keep putting it off. With any luck, they wouldn't even be looking for us until tomorrow—if it even took that long._

 _We climbed up the ladder into Makoto's old tree house—something his dad and Kiyoko had thrown together, which meant it was way too cool to_ not _be a club house—and sat in a circle. Our digimon partners were in our laps and we looked to Makoto. "Ready?" he asked. He waited until we nodded, before he stuck the key into the air where it magically opened a door. When the door was opened, we were all sucked inside._

"No, the plan sucked," Elliot groaned. "We told our parents we wouldn't be back until _tomorrow_. None of them are going to be looking for us. This is the worst day of my life."

"What, it beats out the other day in the auditorium when you embarrassed Shouta so much that Aika practically declared eternal hatred for you?" Makoto asked with mock surprise.

"I didn't mean to embarrass him," Elliot said, sounding surprisingly sincere. "I thought I was helping."

"Remind me to _not_ ask you for help," Makoto decided.

"Yeah, well, Aika still wants to be my friend, I know it," Elliot said. "It would be better if she could be my girlfriend too, but I know I can't have everything. Well, theoretically I know that anyway."

"You won't have _any_ girlfriends if we die in this prison," Osamu said still curled up around Minomon. He looked genuinely scared, and now I didn't speak the language of the people that had thrown us in this cell, but I figured he actually had a reason to be scared.

"We're not going to die," Makoto said firmly. "I haven't convinced Aika to direct my play yet."

"I haven't gotten Aika on a date," Elliot added wistfully.

"Can we not talk about Aika?" I asked, wincing.

"You know, we _should_ talk about Aika," Makoto said. "Because she's our friend, and we are really bad friends to her. We've ignored her for too long."

"She tried to decapitate me with a phone," I reminded them.

"Because you hurt her feelings," Osamu said, peeking up around his partner. "I'm not saying she didn't overreact, because I really think she did. But she had feelings and you hurt them."

"How was I supposed to know that?" I demanded. "We joke around all the time. We understand each other. We never hurt each other's feelings no matter how mean we get. Why was she any different?"

"Because she was your girlfriend," Elliot suggested.

"Barely," I said weakly. It was a bad defense, but we were just kids, and I was at a time in my life when I assumed having a girl as a friend meant you needed to be her boyfriend. I didn't actually have any _real_ feelings for her. Not in that way anyway. And by the time I realized that, I was kind of head over heels for another girl. I broke it off with Aika for _her_ , and suddenly I'm the bad guy. That didn't make any sense to me.

It didn't help that I was legitimately afraid of her.

"If you're not going to be friends with her then whatever," Makoto decided suddenly, "but don't get mad at me when I try to offer up that olive branch. Okay? I'm sick of avoiding her. I _miss_ having her around."

"You're not getting feelings for my girl, are you?" Elliot asked, narrowing his eyes at Makoto.

"Please, I'm too dedicated to the theatre to have any time for girls," Makoto said crinkling his nose in distaste. He was completely fooling himself. Or maybe he just wasn't interested. I wasn't sure. We never really talked about that. Mostly, because I was kinda half in love with his sister, and if we talked about _feelings_ we'd have to talk about that, and he mostly just looked like he either wanted to punch me, or wanted to throw up any time I mentioned it.

But I couldn't help it. I really liked her. She was so fun and wild and random. She always had me on my toes. I could never keep up with her, but it as a challenge that I liked to _try_ to figure it out—to figure _her_ out. She was like sunshine. I just liked to be around her. I didn't often get the chance though, since she was best friends with Aika, and that practically screamed danger, and Makoto would rather skewer me alive than leave me alone with her.

I wasn't _that_ untrustworthy.

"I don't know if Chika was worth all this, man," Elliot said with a sigh, leaning back against the wall while Chapmon tried to suck all of the warmth he might've collected.

"Shut up," Makoto said defensively. "Chika is totally worth dying for."

"But a present isn't," Tanemon protested.

"No," Makoto agreed after a moment. "Dying for a present is stupid. We should've have come."

"It's totally the best present ever, or you know, it would be, if I'd found something," I said defensively. "We can find something in the morning."

"No, we can just go home now," Elliot protested. "Going home sounds like a ton of fun to me right now. I don't even care if I get grounded. I just don't want to die."

"I don't want it to be a wasted trip," I whined. Yep. I _whined_. "Chika really likes ancient Egypt. It can't be too much trouble to find something. When the sun comes up, we'll just get out of here, and grab the first Egyptian looking artifact and get the heck out of this time period."

"You're assuming they're not going to kill us upon first light," Osamu said, rather depressingly. I think I liked it better when he wasn't voicing his opinions, because he as being a real downer. I needed someone that could think positively. I mean, I was the bearer of hope, but it was no fun doing that all by myself. I wanted someone to help me. Uncle Takeru always had Aunt Hikari at his side to help him keep finding reasons to keep hoping.

My friends weren't really helping me with that.

"I'll get you outta here," Koromon promised, from within my shirt. He was talking against my stomach and it tickled like crazy. But at least his breath was warm.

"That's the spirit," I said brightly. "You guys can all go to sleep. I'll wake you when I see the sun, and then we'll be able to stage a break out. Think of how cool this story is going to be. I'm sure it'll impress anybody."

"Not Kaoru," Makoto grumbled, flopping over on his back and groaning when the dust flew up around him. "Nothing impresses her. She'd just laugh at us getting arrested."

"We weren't arrested though," Chapmon pointed out.

"They just grabbed us and threw us in here," Minnowmon agreed.

"They don't even have just cause," Tanemon sighed.

"Well, I mean, we _did_ kind of just pop out of thin air," I said sheepishly. "They're probably not used to that. And really, we did kind of make a commotion."

" _Okay, well this is hotter than anticipated," I said, when we'd passed through the Tunnel of Time and landed in ancient Egypt. The sun was beating heavily down on us, and only Elliot had thought to bring sunglasses. He fixed them on little Chapmon's face, and squinted as he looked around us._

" _Aren't the pyramids meant to be like...huge?" he asked._

" _Yeah," Makoto agreed. "Where are they? It's not like we could just misplace them."_

" _I think we're_ on _one," Tanemon called, as he wandered over the rocks we were standing on. There were men dressed in rags that were dragging a large rock up onto the others. They spotted us, and stopped what they were doing. They pointed and shouted._

" _No autographs, please," Makoto joked._

" _I don't think that's what they're after," I said worriedly. "We should probably not be here."_

" _Anywhere else sounds good, yes," Koromon agreed. I bent down to pick him up, and the others grabbed their partners too. "How do we get down?"_

" _We might need to jump," Elliot declared._

" _You're joking, right?" Chapmon demanded._

" _It's the only way," Elliot said, sounding confident._

" _It's thirty feet!" Osamu gasped._

" _It's imp-possible," Minnowmon said anxiously._

" _It's too late," Makoto grumbled, as the men ran forward and grabbed us roughly. They dragged us down off of the structure, and I could see that it wasn't even close to being a completed pyramid. That stupid key had brought us back too far!_

They'd dragged us over to this crappy little hut that was probably the worst building I'd ever been in. Yeah, they had the excuse of being a part of an ancient civilization that knew nothing about our modern architecture, but really, who used _dirt_ to make a house? My house back home had been made on a computer program by Kiyoko. All he had to do was press the enter key on his laptop and presto, Dad had a house. It was amazing.

I was also probably oversimplifying the process, but I'd never actually sat down to give it a go, so I wasn't exactly sure.

Everyone was lying on the dirt. Osamu and Minnowmon were curled in a tight ball, rocking back and forth as they tried to find some sort of comfort in this dire situation. Elliot and Makoto had unconsciously drifted towards each other, and were feeding off of each other's warmth, while Chapmon and Tanemon tried to burrow into Makoto's sweater. I sighed, remembering how we'd made fun of him for wearing his orange sweater even to the dessert under the hot summer sun.

He'd really shown us.

I could hear Koromon snoring in my shirt, and at some point or another, I guess I was lulled to sleep by it, because I couldn't remember the sun coming up, and when I opened my eyes all three of my human friends, and all _four_ of the digimon were glaring at me like I'd done something wrong.

"You were supposed to wake us up with the sun," Makoto hissed.

"Those mean guys came back and we screamed until they left," Elliot said. "We weren't sure what they wanted to do, but Koromon scared them away with a Bubble Blow."

"Thanks buddy," I said, rubbing his head—which was really his whole body. It was weird to think that way, but my head was still in that weird stage where it was halfway asleep, and I wasn't sure anything was making any sense.

"You said you had a plan," Osamu prompted me.

"Right," I said. "Are there any guards at the door?"

"Yeah, two little guys, why?" Makoto said, peeking out of the door. I didn't answer. Instead, I just walked out of the door. The two guys jumped to their feet and reached for what I could only suppose were weapons, but instead of just letting them—because that would be ridiculously stupid—I ran at the closest one and tackled him to the ground. Koromon was the brave friend that actually followed me out of the hut and he cast a Bubble Blow on the other guy, freaking him out. It would've been hilarious, if, you know, the guy hadn't actually grabbed his weapon, and Koromon _wasn't_ in actual danger.

So my plans weren't _great_.

"C'mon guys," I called hastily. I made sure the guy I'd tackled was still down, and the others just sort of toppled out of the hut, and we all started running. Makoto was pulling the key out of his pocket, but I ran faster, so that he couldn't accidentally take me with him. I wasn't going back home until I found _something_ that I could use as a present for Chika. I raced through a small collection of huts, where people were making little artifacts to put inside the pyramid whenever they got around to finishing it.

I got an idea, and I headed to one of the least trafficked huts, and looked over their collection. There were a few talismans which were kind of cool, I guessed, but Chika already had a necklace made out of corks that she wore all the time, and I didn't want her to think I didn't like it.

"What are you doing?" Elliot asked sharply by the time they caught up to me. Koromon hopped around at his feet, huffing and puffing because of how fast he'd had to move in order to keep up. I felt bad instantly, and held my hands out for him to jump up. He did so gratefully, and I looked to Elliot. It was obvious what I was doing.

"What we came here to do," I pointed out. "Do you think she'd want a cat statue?"

"Just get her this Canopic Jar and call it a day," Osamu said. "She was talking about them. She thinks they're fascinating."

"Great," I said with a cheery grin. "At least _someone_ cares about my mission."

"Awesome," Makoto said unenthusiastically, bringing up the rear, having chosen to walk quickly, rather than run. "Those guys are coming now though, and we need to get out of here."

"Do you have any money?" I asked hastily.

"Yeah," Makoto said sarcastically. "I happen to carry ancient Egyptian currency on me. Oh wait, I must've left them in my other pants."

"Sorry," I said, looking around helplessly.

"Just take it and let's go," Elliot said impatiently. Osamu looked to the woman that was making the jars out of clay and pointed to a nice looking one, and then pointed at the rest of us. She nodded quickly, looking at us with wide, terrified eyes. I realized that they were scared of us. I supposed we must've looked rather strange to them. Not only were we from a region of the world they might not have known about yet—I didn't exactly pay attention in history class—but we were also from the future.

"Thank you," Osamu told the woman as he took the jar, which kind of looked more like a vase to me, but I figured he knew what he was talking about, since he'd had the honour of having Chika's company.

" _Now_ can we get out of here?" Makoto asked, looking over his shoulder impatiently. He let out an involuntary yelp and stuck the key into the air, opening the gateway. We were sucked into it quickly, and he slammed the door behind us, just before those guys could catch up to us. They looked really mad that we escaped.

I was happy though. I had what I'd come for. It was a little plain, just being made of clay and all, but it was an authentic ancient Egyptian artifact, and it had this nice _newness_ to it that most others of its kind didn't have. Chika could really appreciate the work they put into it, instead of just guessing how old it was.

"That was the scariest thing ever," Chapmon said solemnly.

"Let's never do it again," Tanemon agreed.

"How did Mom and Dad deal with stuff like that when they were _ten_? They were practically babies. That's crazy, is what it is. I'm so glad we got out of all of that," Makoto said, but I couldn't ignore the obvious glare he was sending my way.

"What we need to do is come up with a really cool story that makes us sound a lot braver than we actually were," I decided. "There's no point telling anyone if they're just going to make fun of us."

"Aren't we going to get grounded if we tell anyone though?" Koromon asked me.

"Probably," I decided. "But it'll be worth it."

"It's got to be worth _something_ ," Makoto said. "We nearly died."

"I think that's a little bit of an exaggeration," Elliot said, rolling his eyes.

"I don't think I _want_ to brag about this," Minomon said softly.

"I want to forget it ever happened," Osamu said to himself. But I heard him. I probably wasn't supposed to though, since he looked embarrassed.

"At least we got what we came for," Tanemon said, looking up at the jar I held in my hands. I looked down at it too, and wrinkled my nose.

"What's this jar even for, anyway?" I asked Osamu.

"Chika said they used them to put body parts in," he said with a shrug.

"Gross!" was the general consensus.

"I'mma fill it with candy hearts," I decided, as we walked through the Tunnel of Time. When the world flashed around us this time, we found ourselves back in Makoto's tree house. The sun was high in the sky. We made it before bedtime. Excellent!

We climbed down the ladder carefully, passing the jar down as gently as possible, and Makoto led us through the backdoor of the house. "Hey Mom, I'm back!" he called loudly. Mimi came out of the kitchen and looked to us with a furrowed brow.

"But you just left ," she said, sounding confused.

"Right," he said, looking back to us. I shrugged my shoulders, trying to keep the jar hidden behind Osamu's back so that Mimi couldn't see it. I guess the Time key decided we needed to come back right away, instead of tomorrow. I didn't really understand time travel. I was pretty sure I really didn't want to anyway. "Well, we decided to cancel those plans, I guess."

"Oh, well, I better get more on for dinner then," she said simply. There was a glint in her eye though, and I could've sworn she saw the key that Makoto was trying to hide with his shirt sleeve. I didn't stick around to find out though. Makoto led me through the house, making sure that Chika wasn't around, and sent me back to the Temple using the computer in his room. I needed to get this jar home and to come up with an excuse as to why I wasn't staying over with the guys after all.

But it didn't matter, because I'd gotten the _perfect_ gift. I couldn't wait to see her face when she got it!

 **Featured Evolution Line: Nikko:** Botamon—Koromon—Shoutmon—Tyrannomon—Megadramon—Dorbickmon


	11. The Godfather

**Y/N:** Chika was pretty much my favourite child to write. She was so fun and interesting, and I finally got used to using their in-training digimon, by including her little buddy Motimon. They're friendship is pretty solid and I hope you like the strange pair. :D

 **Title: Here Comes Santa Claus**

 **By: YukiraKing**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.**

 **Chapter 11: The Godfather**

 _ **Chika Izumi:**_

I had a pretty successful day at the beach. It was really cold, because it was December, but that was okay, because Emiko hadn't had time to hide my new winter boots yet, so my toes were toasty warm. I ripped a hole in my coat though, so I was going to need to sneak over to Auntie Sora's house to fix it before Mom noticed, because she was _sure_ to tell Gran that I ripped the new coat that she sent over from America. It was 'custom made' too, whatever that meant. All I knew was that it looked like a patchwork quilt, and the red square that was supposed to be a pocket was dangling by a thread.

Sora could fix it up real good though. It would be even better than before too, because she was amazing like that. Aika was always telling me about her mom's work, and I let her, because I thought it was really interesting how she could pick up some cloth and look at it and see a dress, or a jacket. I couldn't do that. I always saw it as a bunny, or a caterpillar instead. Sora always laughed, and then, the next week or so, she would hand me a stuffed bunny or caterpillar, or whatever else I saw.

So I knew she could see them too.

She was very fun. But it wasn't to Sora's house that I was going. I was going to Hikari's house, because I found some pretty things on the beach and I thought she would really like them. Motimon waddled along beside me, holding a tiny leather bag where he put the stones he collected. He was making a pyramid out of small stones and hot glue. He needed my help to handle the glue gun, so of course Mom always had to be there to help, because I wasn't to be trusted with anything super hot like that. Not after I burned a hole through the carpet when I was trying to curl my hair like Sora did, because I thought it must be fun to have a bunch of springs all attached to my head.

I burned the carpet after I dropped the curling iron, because I burned my ear after burning off a big chunk of my hair. Mom cried, because my hair had _finally_ gotten long again after the time I'd tried using chewing gum as a hair tie when Emiko dared me to do it. For the record, white glue is also a terrible hair tie. I had my hair chopped off for that once too.

My hair was almost back to normal again, which meant it was just about touching my shoulders. Mom liked it long, because she liked to experiment with braids. I wanted her to make a braid that stood straight up, and she said she'd try, but she just couldn't figure it out yet. I was so excited.

Anyway, I walked down the sidewalk with Motimon beside me. We were taking turns reading the house numbers, because I didn't want to accidentally miss Hikari's house if we weren't paying attention. It was hard work though, focussing on something as boring as numbers. I'd much rather be debating over the benefits of mummification, but Motimon was a little squeamish, and Mom got mad when I tried to ask Dad about it at dinner last night. Apparently "crusty old, shriveled up dead people is _not_ a proper conversation for dinner, Chika, honestly". I couldn't help it if I found "weird" things interesting. I couldn't sit around and talk about the weather. There are only so many things to say about it.

It was snowing. That was all there was to say. There was snow falling down from the sky, and I did little spins on the sidewalk, trying to catch the snowflakes with my tongue. I couldn't tell Mom about that either though, because she was always worried about pollution and how it was poisoning us through rain and snow. She didn't like it when I ate snow.

But it was too convenient _not_ to. What if I forgot a water bottle? I could just munch on some snow for a few seconds, and then I had a mouthful of water. It was so easy, and it was refreshingly cold. I liked that nature was thoughtful enough to provide beverages for people as forgetful as me.

"Chika," Motimon scolded. "You're not paying attention. We're at house six hundred and twelve. I think we missed it."

"Well, six hundred and eight _is_ a smaller number than six hundred and twelve," I decided thoughtfully. "But maybe the numbers decided to switch around today, just for a little bit of variety. It's got to be really boring just hanging around in the same order all the time. I wouldn't like to be a number, I don't think. Would you?"

"I don't know," Motimon said slowly. "I've never actually thought about it. I think I'd like to be a five. Five's a nice round number, isn't it?"

"It's uneven," I pointed out.

"But it's fun to draw," Motimon argued. I had to give him that one. It _was_ my favourite number to write out. It was just so fun. There were straight lines _and_ curves. It was the best of both worlds. "But I think we should walk backwards, just to make sure we didn't miss their house."

"Good idea, Motimon," I said, saluting him. We looked at each other, and started moving backwards. I couldn't see anything behind me, but we didn't run into anyone, so that was a good thing. I kept my knees up, marching to the little tune Motimon was humming.

"Six hundred and ten," Motimon sang out when we passed that house. "Six hundred and eight."

"The numbers decided to be boring today," I sighed at the realization.

"Maybe they'll have fun tomorrow," Motimon said thoughtfully. I paused and decided he was probably right. We walked together up the path that led to Hikari's front door. There was a perfectly normal and boring snow man in the front lawn with a red scarf and a black top hat. There was a corn cob pipe in his red licorice mouth, and his button nose looked a little droopy under his coal eyes. I thought his nose was the most interesting part about him. His arms were made of sticks with blue mittens on the end. There was even a little snow dog beside him with little hand prints on his back, which made me think that Patamon was responsible for the little guy.

"Up we go," I said, reaching down to hold Motimon's hand as he hopped up the steps. I hopped too, because it was way more fun than walking, and we laughed when we reached the top.

"I win!" Motimon cheered.

"Your prize is that you get to knock on the door," I decided.

"Oh goodie," Motimon said happily. He really liked knocking on doors. The only problem was that no one could ever hear his knocks because he was so little. It was a little disappointing for him, but he never gave up and that was all that mattered. I opened the screen door and he huddled up near the wooden door that was hiding behind it, and pulled up his tiny fist and knocked three times.

I could almost hear it even.

The wooden door opened and Hiro was standing behind it looking very surprised. I was surprised too. I looked down happily at Motimon. He'd done it! Someone heard him. It was the most exciting thing to happen to him all week. He looked so proud of himself. I couldn't help but be proud of him too.

"And where do you think you're going, young man?" Hikari asked. Hiro groaned and his shoulders sank. He turned to his mother and gave her a dirty look and then pointed towards Motimon and me. Hikari looked surprised to see us.

"I was just opening the door," Hiro complained. "Or is _that_ a crime now too? Can't I do anything?"

"Thank you Hiro," Hikari said giving him an apologetic glance. "I didn't even hear you knocking Chika. I'm so sorry. Did you wait long?"

"Nope," I said with a big grin. "Hiro heard Motimon's knocking, isn't that amazing?"

"It sure is," Hikari said nicely. "Now, what can I do for you today?"

"I just came to give you a secret surprise!" I said excitedly, showing her my basket of treasures. There were pieces of broken glass in all sorts of different colours. "I thought you'd like them."

"Oh wow," Hikari said, gasping and looking at each piece individually. She was so impressed. I was so glad she liked the surprise. "Broken glass. I hope you were careful when you picked these up young lady, we don't want a repeated incident."

"No we don't," I said, rubbing my inner elbow. I collected a bunch of rusty old nails, thinking that Mom would love them, and I cut myself on one. Mom made me go to Doctor Kido and get a big fat needle in my arm just so I couldn't get poisoned from it. It wasn't fun at all. That's why I ignored the rusty nails this time and picked up the glass instead. It was way prettier anyway.

"Good," she said. "You know, I think Kamemon would like these even more than I do. He's got a collection you know. He's been looking for glass in just this exact shade of green. Do you think I could share?"

"Sharing is caring," I said with a smile. "There's a lot of glass. Everyone can have some. I don't mind. The fun part's finding it anyway."

"You're so thoughtful," Hikari said, patting me on the head. I smiled brightly, liking the attention, even if I wasn't as little as everyone seemed to think I was. I was thirteen and not a little baby anymore. But if it made them happy, they could think I was. I didn't really mind that much. Besides, Makoto got in trouble a whole lot more than I did because he wasn't so agreeable. I learned not to act like him a long time ago. I was just me, just Chika, because Mom told me to always be true to myself and my heart—and Daddy told me to always expand my mind and find new experiences. That's why I was so open to new things, and why I liked to go exploring so much. I didn't like learning from just books. I liked to experience everything all on my own. The beach was so pretty in the winter, and I hadn't known that until Motimon and I made our trip this morning. We spent hours there, documenting the different footprints in the snow, and speculating what was going on under the ice that covered the water. Motimon was _sure_ there were sharks and goldfish and starfish and every other kind of fish having a tea party now that there were no pesky humans trying to invade their home.

I had a sneaking suspicion he was right. I'd have a party if the weather made it so no one could break into _my_ home uninvited anymore.

And because of Mom's teachings, I made sure to let _other_ people be themselves too, because that just made sense. Emiko was mean sometimes, but she was being _Emiko_ when she did it, so that was okay. This particular lesson was why I decided to follow after Hiro, who was creeping towards the staircase that led to the basement, hoping his mother didn't see him. She was too busy calling her own mom's house though, to see if Kamemon wanted some of the glass, so she didn't even look his way.

He was careful not to make much noise on the steps, and when he got to his room he tried to open his door, only to be met with a difficult challenge. He sighed and shoved with all his might, and the door opened a little bit, just enough for him to get through. Motimon and I looked at each other and giggled as Hiro made his way up the steps to his room, closing the door behind him. Since I was a curious person I shoved at his door too, and Motimon and I followed him inside.

"What do you want Tenshi?" Hiro said bitterly.

"I don't know what Tenshi wants," I said. "Should I go ask him? I could, you know. It wouldn't be any trouble."

"Chika? What are you doing here? I'm not allowed visitors. I'm in solitary confinement," Hiro sighed, flopping over onto his bed. "I'm going to be trapped here until I'm too old to ever have fun again."

"I'm sure you'll be able to find other old people that want to be your friend," I said, scolding him for not believing in himself. He was a very friendly person to most other people. Not all of them, but sometimes it's just impossible. Gran and Daddy still have fights sometimes about what's best for me. Gran wants me to follow Makoto's example and become an actress, and Daddy just wants me to be happy. He also hopes that I'll be more interested in research, but he won't come right out and say it, because he really _does_ want me to be happy. I spend a lot of time pretending that I don't hear Gran's words, because I don't want to be an actress, but I want to keep her happy with me. And since I was being oblivious, she _was_ happy. That made everything okay. And it was fun to sometimes play pretend, even though I wasn't a little kid anymore.

No one's ever too old for pretend.

Even _Daddy_ plays it when I ask him to. And he's super old now. Like, way too old for me to even contemplate—Mommy's orders, because she's the same age and she doesn't like being reminded. She had a grey streak in her hair though. A great big chunk near the front of her head was shining silver, and she couldn't really pretend it wasn't there. She made it seem like it was a fashion choice. I tried to copy it, so that we could start a trend, but she got mad when I dipped my hair in silver paint and got it all over the rug.

"I just want to be miserable in peace," Hiro whined.

"With me though," Tokomon pointed out. "I'm allowed to stay."

"Of course," I said simply. It made perfect sense to me. Partners didn't count when you wanted to be alone. When I said I wanted to be alone I _always_ meant with Motimon.

"What's wrong?" Motimon asked, passing me his leather pouch and piling up a bunch of dirty clothes before jumping into it. Hiro's room was so messy. It wasn't fair. My parents wouldn't let me have such a wonderful playground for Motimon in _my_ room. I'd tried, and Palmon helped me clean it up, while lecturing me on cleanliness and how messes lead to bug infestations. I thought bugs were pretty cool, considering Tentomon was a bug, but she said these bugs wouldn't be anything like as cool as him or Motimon, so I had to agree with her logic and clean the room.

"Can you keep a secret?" Hiro asked, sounding rather vulnerable and not at all like the sometimes angry but mostly cheerful boy that I knew him to be.

"Sometimes," I said, nodding quickly. "Sometimes it just spills out though when I'm not looking."

"I don't even care," Hiro said miserably. "I need to tell _someone_ before my parents kill me for messing up so badly."

"What did you do?" Motimon asked eagerly. "Did you set something on fire? Chika gets in trouble for that all the time."

"I'm trying to understand fire," I explained. "It's hard to understand something without really experiencing it. Daddy said so. And it's _really_ fun."

"I didn't set it on fire, I just broke it into a bajillion pieces," Hiro said quickly. "It's so many pieces, and I can't put it back together again."

"What?" I asked.

"Was it on purpose?" Motimon wanted to know. "Was it an experiment?"

"No," Hiro said quickly. "I didn't mean for it to break. I just wanted to hide that stupid cello, and now it's broken, and I'm scared of telling Mom and Dad because I'm already grounded and I don't want them to hate me. I think they really might."

"I don't," I said. "Because we can fix it."

"How?" he asked desperately.

"We get to the one person that can get away with almost anything," I said.

"I can't go outside," he pointed out, thinking there was a flaw in my plan. But he didn't realize I was actually pretty quick on my feet. I could adapt better than almost anyone.

"You'll go down to the front room," I ordered him. "I'm going to unroll all the toilet paper in your bathroom and hide it in your room, and then tell your mom that she needs to get a new roll, and that should distract her long enough for you to get out."

He looked skeptical, but I was used to that. He glanced over to the door that led to the hallway and saw how cluttered the entrance was, so she left the way we'd come in, down the stairs with Tokomon in his arms, and I headed noisily to the bathroom, because I needed Hikari to pay more attention to me than to Hiro. I realized I needed a better spot to stuff all the toilet paper than Hiro's room, because it would be really weird if I walked all the way there before telling her about the problem. So instead, I just wrapped it around the base of a potted plant and hoped she wouldn't notice it. I walked out into the kitchen, where she was putting the glass into a plastic baggie, so that I could have my basket back. She smiled and handed it to me when she caught sight of me.

"You need more toilet paper," I told her simply. She looked surprised.

"I thought I just put a new roll in this morning," she murmured, before shaking her head and smiling at me. "Thank you for telling me."

"No problem," I said simply, and she walked towards a cupboard under the stairs that went up—I'd never been up there—then she was out of sight of the front door. I beckoned Hiro over, and he looked anxious. "Goodbye Hikari! I hope you liked your present!"

"I did, thank you very much," she called back. I pushed Hiro and Tokomon out the door and waited while Motimon scuttled over the little step before jumping out and closing the door. I put the basket on the ground so Motimon could climb into it, and picked it back up again. We were on a mission. We couldn't slow down for anything, even for an independent little digimon like Motimon. He understood though. We didn't know what our time parameters were. Hikari could notice Hiro was missing at any moment. We had to run.

So we did.

We ran all the way to the Kido house, which was way farther than I was used to running, but it was for a good cause. Momoe opened the door when Hiro knocked—claiming that he didn't hear Motimon say that he wanted to do it—and gave us a suspicious look. I could understand her skepticism. Hiro and I did not, as a rule, hang out. Aika was mad at Hiro still, but less mad at Hiro than the others, because Hiro was her cousin. I had been told that they were all bad news. I couldn't get out of being around Makoto, because he was my brother, but I tried sometimes to avoid Osamu, Elliot and Nikko. I didn't like to do it, but I thought I should try, because Aika was my best friend. She was my only friend really, besides Motimon. And Momoe knew that.

But I didn't let that stop me.

"I'm here to see Emiko," I said. "Can we please use your computer to go to her house?"

"It's still _my_ house, but I guess she did take over it, didn't she?" Momoe said, mostly to herself. She opened the door wide enough to let us in, and I happily walked inside. It was toasty warm inside. Renjiro and Kana were studying in the living room, and Hiro hid his head with a hood. I pretended that I couldn't see him, even when Renjiro asked me who he was, and I was pretty sure they bought my clever rouse. It wasn't long before the four of us were standing in the other Kido living room—Emiko's to be precise.

"What're you doing here?" Emiko asked surprised. She was dancing around with a hairbrush, singing loudly as she wiggled her butt. I laughed at her, and she narrowed her eyes my way. "What do you need?"

"Hiro needs help," I told her simply.

"He's never asked before," Emiko said, contemplating it. "Let me hear it."

"He broke Tenshi's cello," I said. Emiko whistled while Hiro looked to me annoyed. How was I supposed to help him if I couldn't tell everyone his secret?

"That's a tall order," Emiko said cautiously. "But I'll help. For a fee."

"You can have anything in my backpack," I offered. She wrinkled her nose and shook her head.

"I want a good present," she insisted.

"You'll have to wait for the Secret Santa for that," I warned her. She sighed. I was pretty sure she didn't know I had her name—for real this time. I decided to work extra hard at finding a really good present for her.

"Fine," she said. "I don't like it, but it'll have to do. I'm going to give you the real secret to my success: my godfather."

"Take us there," I commanded. She snorted at my tone of voice which wasn't very intimidating, but she led us back through the gate to her parents' house and out the front door. She took the keys to her Mom's car and we all piled inside. I made sure that both Tokomon and Motimon were safely buckled and then we were off. I was so excited. I imagined she was taking us to a castle that was dark and gloomy where lighting surrounded it all the time. But that's not where we ended up. It was a house that I knew really well...because I lived there.

"I didn't know Mr Koushiro was your godfather," Motimon said in surprise as we all piled out of the vehicle.

I led the way to the door because it was my house and that made sense. Emiko was texting someone on her phone and I guessed it was Daddy, since she wanted us to see her godfather. I opened the door, and Emiko took the lead and brought us to Daddy's office. When she opened the door the room was dark, except for one lamp that shone light down directly onto Daddy's chair. When the chair spun around though, it wasn't Daddy at all. It was Mom. I was very confused.

"You come to me in your time of need," Mom said in a deep, gravelly voice that I'd never heard her use before. She was petting Palmon's head, gently running her hand across her petals. The light acted as a spotlight and made Mom look menacing. "You come to me with a request?"

"We need a cello, ASAP," Emiko said, getting on her knees in front of Mom. "You can do anything. You've proven that to me. Help me grant this boon."

"I will do this favour for you," Mom said. "But sometime, I do not know when, you will grant me a favour in return."

"Me?" Emiko said shocked. "This isn't even for me."

"That's our standard deal, Emiko," Mom said, rolling her eyes. "You either take the deal or leave it. But if you don't take it, don't come to me in the future asking for anything, got it?"

"The things I do for you kids," Emiko grumbled. She held her hand out for Mom to shake, which she did, returning to her ominous roll.

"Pleasure doing business with you," Mom told her in that same deep voice.

"You can help me?" Hiro asked, taking off his hood.

"Not really, no," Mom said sheepishly. Hiro deflated and I felt bad for him. Emiko looked betrayed because she'd just sworn to return a favour to Mom, but Mom waved her hands. "But I know who _can_. There are only two people who can get a genuine cello under the radar."

"That's not even true," Emiko interrupted. Mom ignored her.

"Hideto and Kiyoko can get anything you need," Mom confessed. "They don't ask questions, and they don't live that far away. You can get there before dinner if you hurry."

"Thanks Mom," I said, rushing forward to kiss her cheek. She smiled happily, before leveling her gaze on Emiko again and petting Palmon, who didn't seem all that impressed by the role she'd been given. I couldn't offer to play with her yet though, because I had to keep moving. I grabbed Hiro's hand and dragged him back out of the house. Emiko called after us, offering a ride, and I looked down to Motimon who was freezing in his basket, and decided that was probably a really good idea.

It didn't take very long to get to their house, because Mom was right. They didn't live very far away. And I raced up the walkway towards their door, knocking loudly, because Motimon was far too cold to do it. And Izumi opened the door. I wasn't sure what to do, because Mom said Hideto and Kiyoko, and Izumi wasn't either of them. But she _was_ her daughter.

"Aren't you grounded?" Izumi asked, narrowing her eyes at Hiro.

"What? No. Where did you even hear that," Hiro said, hoping to sound believable. I decided to pretend I believed him so that he wouldn't feel too bad for being a bad actor.

"He's really not," I agreed. "We just need your dads' help. See, we need a cello, one exactly like Tenshi's cello, so that we can _replace_ Tenshi's cello."

"Chika, it was a secret!" Hiro hissed. "You've already told so many people."

"I told you I'm not good with secrets," I pretend whispered back. "Can you tell your dads Izumi?"

"I can do you one better," she said, looking sympathetic to Hiro's problem. "Come back here in three days time, and I'll have your cello."

"Deal," I said, sticking my hand out to shake hers. She looked confused, but shook my hand anyway. This was great! I really helped Hiro. I felt really proud of myself. Motimon yawned.

"Can we make my pyramid now?" he asked me. I smiled, but looked to Hiro knowing we'd have to get him home first.

"Yeah," I said. "Maybe Mom's done playing pretend and she'll be able to help us."

"Maybe," Motimon sighed, as he settled into the bottom of the basket.

 **Featured Evolution Line: Chika:** Pabumon—Motimon—KoDokugumon—Dokugumon—Arukenimon—Parasimon


	12. Yes and No

**U/N:** Elliot was really obnoxious. We knew that from 'Happily Ever After' and we knew it even more while going into this story. It just became super apparent that he was the most annoying thing ever as the chapters started coming and I was really angry with him actually xD I love Michael and Tatum and Louisa and I just wanted to like Elliot too. I definitely DO like him now after getting to write as him but good lord he has a lot to work on.

 **Title: Here Comes Santa Claus**

 **By: UrazamayKing**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.**

 **Chapter 12: Yes and No**

 _ **Elliot Washington:**_

"Elliot, where are you going?" I jumped at the sound of Louisa's voice, thinking momentarily that it had been Mom that had caught me. I'd been really jumpy ever since we had come back from the past. It wasn't that I was afraid of doing things that were against the rules, it was just that I didn't want to be caught and punished for some stupid ploy of Nikko's to get Chika's attention. _Especially_ when Chika's attention was so easy to capture.

I would know.

" _Elliot," Emiko said sharply, "I need you to distract Chika."_

 _I followed Emiko's gaze and found her staring toward the girl who was splashing in a puddle in bare feet. Motimon was roaring with laughter as he splashed back at her, and somehow it actually seemed fun, though it seemed illogical since the puddle was so dirty. I sighed and nodded my head, "Fine I'll do it."_

" _Oh good," Emiko grinned, heading off to initiate whatever she was planning._

" _But first," I stalled, she hesitated and turned back, "What do I get out of it?" Emiko hesitated and looked frustrated as she glanced over to Chika who had sent most of her puddle flying through the air already. Soon there would be no puddle left to play in. "I'm_ waiting _," I told her seriously._

 _Emiko groaned, "I can get you Renjiro's journal," she offered._

 _I thought for a moment that I would have no purpose, but I was running low on reading material, so why wouldn't I want to invade someone's personal thoughts to fix my own issues? "Sure," I agreed. Emiko grinned and rushed off, leaving me to do as was asked. I was on my way toward Chika when she noticed me, waving dramatically. I had my umbrella held around me to protect from the rain, so I didn't go too close, afraid of getting wet before going to Osamu's house. I didn't want to sit in his house soaking wet again—his mom hadn't seemed too happy about it last time. "What's up?"_

" _Playin' around," she said brightly, "What about you?"_

" _Oh, I'm just heading to Osamu's house," I said, adjusting Chapmon in my arms so he was held more like a soccer ball, under one arm. "But first, he's allergic to these candies," I reached into my pocket and pulled out some brightly coloured snacks. "I just need somewhere to throw them out, because I can't bring them to him."_

" _I could throw them out for you," Chika offered as she and Motimon hurried out of the puddle, leaving their things behind. "Or maybe instead I could eat them?"_

" _Oh that could work," I said, acting as though I were thinking about the offer. I saw, over Chika's shoulder, Emiko reach around the tree Chika's things had been leaning against. She grabbed Chika's shoes and slipped off, stealing them. "Okay," I decided, handing the snacks to Chika who looked ravenously to the package._

 _She giggled and looked down to Motimon excitedly, and then as she turned back to her things she looked startled, "Oh did I leave my shoes down the street?" Motimon shrugged his shoulders._

It took only candy. There was no reason to jump through hoops and go back in time to appease someone who was so easy to please. Chika was like a bundle of easygoing nature, so Nikko's constant complaints were just kind of annoying.

See, _Aika_ on the other hand was complicated and frustrating. Surely Nikko could remember what it really meant to have to work with someone who wanted nothing more than to be upset. Well that wasn't fair. Aika maybe really _was_ upset all the time, but it sure seemed like she found a way to turn everything into a personal attack.

" _Aika, I really like your hair today," I told her._

" _I'm wearing a hat," she said, looking back, confused. "Are you saying my hair is ugly?"_

No Aika, no I was not saying that. But she didn't seem to get it. Girls were so confusing! And Aika _was_ a girl, which I actually knew, unlike Nikko. She dated _him_ , so what was wrong with _me_?

"Hello?" Louisa wondered, waving her hand my way. Sometimes I just tuned her out completely which she probably found annoying, but it wasn't my fault. It was so hard to pay attention to everything she said. She talked an awful lot. "Mom and Dad said you have to stay home tonight."

"I didn't do _anything_ wrong!" I defended, my mind flashing back to the half-built pyramid. Louisa could see I was lying, and that I had done _something_ that I wasn't supposed to, but without any proof she'd never go to Mom or Dad. I for one wasn't about to give her the information she would need. "And I'm leaving anyway, tell Mom you missed me, and I was already away."

Louisa shook her head, folding her arms across her chest, "No way," she objected, "I don't want to be here alone when _they_ come."

I felt dread and disappointment seep through every part of my body. No one had told me they were coming! I was still a little shaken up from our adventure, and I really didn't think I had enough energy to put up with the lot of them. I was instantly scanning the office for my digivice, looking over the cluttered desk and the computer stand, but Louisa saw my plan and lunged forward.

I gasped, looking back but saw she was just faking. She didn't see my digivice either—I would have to find it before her! We began rampaging through the office—which was probably why it was always so messy—scouring ceiling to floor in search of my escape, and as I was pulling open the pencil drawer, Louisa let out a triumphant cry. She held the digivice high in the air and rushed over to the door. "Looks like I won," she grinned, "See you at dinner, Elliot!" with a final wink she had disappeared, closing the door behind her.

I groaned and slumped into the black leather chair and began spinning it in circles.

"What are you doing," Chapmon asked nervously. "Have you gone insane?"

"Probably," I admitted simply. I was actually thinking that maybe if I spun around enough I could get myself sick and not have to eat dinner with the others. I didn't want to anyway, I had plans with Nikko. I had my typical excuse in mind, but Mom wasn't falling for it anymore.

" _Mom, my crest is Friendship," I told her, "That means I have to go see my friends and not be stuck here in America. The fate of the worlds depends on_ me _."_

It had only worked a few times, but it had been years since she'd fallen for it. I thought it was pretty stupid that we still lived in America anyway. Dad's job was here, sure, but all of my friends were in _Japan_. Of course, my school was here, and blah blah blah—but it still made a lot of sense to _me_ to move away. I probably would when I grew up. Who wanted to live in America as an adult anyway. There were like, taxes and stuff that I didn't understand. I'd never heard Nikko complain about taxes, so Japan probably didn't even have them—or maybe it was the Digital World...

"We should probably hide the valuable things in your room," Chapmon suggested, thinking a lot more clearly than I was. I nodded my head and hopped to my feet, letting him follow along behind. "Betamon!" Chapmon shouted, catching his attention from down the hall, "Hurry we have to clean!"

Betamon looked skeptical, like he wasn't sure why _he_ had to clean, but he came along anyway. When we got to my room he saw that it wasn't so bad. I liked to think not. I always kept my room relatively neat so just in case someone—Aika—came over, she would be impressed with my ability to focus and to be detail oriented. Or something. I wasn't really sure why—it was mostly because Mom wanted it clean.

"So what do we clean?" Betamon wanted to know.

"Well," I told him, "Anything breakable. Iris and Madlyn are coming." Betamon nodded, fully understanding, and then we got to work.

" _Can we see your room?" Madlyn asked loudly. I shook my head, "I'll find it anyway." She ran off, waving for her twin sister to follow. Iris looked up to me and I shrugged. She smiled and followed along, carrying both Gummymon and Budmon too, since Madlyn had left her partner behind. "I bet this is it! I see a soccer ball! Elliot plays soccer! Let's break stuff!"_

 _My stomach dropped and I ran down the hall, sliding to a stop in the open doorway as Madlyn chucked some lame porcelain wolf across the room where it shattered. Iris let out a shriek of horror, but Gummymon was pleased with the mayhem._

 _I wasn't though, and I grabbed Madlyn, carrying her out of my room._

That hadn't been the only incident, either. When they had been younger they were both so gentle—well kind, not gentle really. I was pretty sure the sociopathic alien that wandered the Earth claiming to be named 'Izumi Fujimoto' was behind their shift in personality. That, or since Iris was actually really nice, it could have been Gummymon's fault for tainting her partner with insanity. Her name really fit though, since she was really mad. Like, crazy mad, not angry mad.

"So what are you guys doing for Christmas, then?" I asked Betamon and Chapmon. They looked to each other nervously, then looked away. "You're not good at hiding things."

Chapmon laughed in an embarrassed sort of way and said, "Well there's this really cool party—"

"Wait," I cut him off, "you're going to a party without me?"

Betamon smiled nervously, "It's a digimon party at the Coliseum. Babamon is planning it and she wants to make sure Taichi doesn't come, so no people are allowed."

"You're _ditching_ me on Christmas?" I asked, annoyed. It was a pretty _big_ deal for me since Christmas was my favourite day of the year, rivalled only by my birthday. Chapmon was just going to _leave_? But I figured he should enjoy himself too... and if that meant he had to be in some weird Coliseum party with only digimon—which was super racist honestly—then that was what he would have to do.

When I made my way back to the living room, with Chapmon and Betamon saying behind to prepare a suitable hiding place just in case Madlyn chased them again, I found Louisa sitting on the couch, hugging Hopmon like a pillow as she talked to Monodramon who sat across from her, listening to her problems again.

He was a great listener since he never talked, but because Louisa talked so often and never listened well, it was like a perfect match! I was convinced Monodramon was actually her partner, and that somehow Mom and Louisa swapped.

"It's just that he won't even look at me in the eyes," Louisa complained, "He just keeps ignoring me and I keep trying to fight for him and I've even taken all the appropriate first steps. I read about them in a magazine, see, and he just isn't interested." Monodramon nodded his head. "I think he's dating someone else... probably from college—ooh! I wonder if I could find her on social media? What if I already _know_ her—" Louisa gasped loudly, "Oh my _god_ , it's Mai, isn't it?"

"I don't know," Hopmon said, sounding skeptical, and rightly so.

"No, it is." Louisa was absolutely sure of the fact and judging by the way she was pouting, she wasn't too happy about it. "He picked her over me—I always knew he would. Best friend trumps that one girl who has a crush on you. I wonder if that means Tenshi and I should get together."

"Please don't," I groaned, startling Louisa. She glared at me. "That poor guy can't handle all of..." I motioned to the mess that was Louisa, " _you_."

"Hey!" she snarled.

"At least Haruki's older and kind of crazy too," I reasoned with her, "he'd be able to put up with you I bet."

Louisa held her hands over her heart and was immediately swooning at the thought. "You really think so?" I nodded along, but didn't say anything, because all eyes were suddenly on the door. There had been a sharp knock. I swallowed thickly and decided to brave it out, marching over. I looked back to the others and they seemed to know that this would be their last chance to escape. "We should help Mom in the kitchen, right?" Louisa suggested, and both Monodramon and Hopmon agreed silently. I groaned and pulled the door open sharply.

I was greeted by a scream of pure joy and fury—which was an odd mixture that would only work with Madlyn. Her mess of blonde hair was flying behind her as she leapt through the open doorway and into my arms, "Hey cousin Elliot, what's shakin' bacon? Haven't seen you in a while, Crocodile. You let the cat out of the bag. High as a kite. Pay the piper—out of the blue!"

"What are you doing?" I asked, groaning under the weight of my cousin. She was a lot heavier than she looked, and she was only a few years younger than me.

"Learned about synonyms in school today," Madlyn nodded her head fervently, "Mhm, yes I did."

"Those weren't synonyms, they were idioms," I rolled my eyes, "And not all of them were even that." Madlyn shrugged and slid back down to the floor where she skipped past me and into the house. I saw the crowd of digimon making their way in after her with Terriermon joyfully calling out "I beat you!" to which Lopmon replied, "We weren't even _racing_ , Terriermon." They were always arguing about something, but as they led the procession, Iris waited patiently outside.

When she finally got the chance to come in, she looked back to her parents, wondering if they might want to go first, but Mari ushered her along. Iris grinned and hurried inside, smiling to me on her way past. I waited for Willis and Mari to make their way inside and I finally closed the door, letting it click behind them. I noticed Dad popping up at the top of the elaborate staircase and he waved to Willis, calling to him, and telling him to follow him upstairs. He was probably going to show him his new theater chairs. He had just bought them and wouldn't let Louisa or I use them until Willis got to see them.

Mari was following in Louisa's footsteps and heading toward the kitchen while all the digimon hurried outside excitedly, I even noticed Chapmon and Betamon going. I was jealous that everyone was leaving, because that meant that I was along with—

"Hey _Elliot_!" Madlyn shouted, holding a thin black book in the air, "Look what I found?"

"What is it?" Iris sounded curious.

"It's his _diary_!" Madlyn sang.

I shrugged and fell into the comfort of the couch. "That's Renjiro's actually," I shrugged. Madlyn groaned angrily and threw the book wildly behind her. She ran full speed toward the couch before jumping and landing, just shy of my legs, on her knees. I made sure not to flinch away even though I was so scared she'd land on me. When she finally settled in she leaned forward, "Can we play?"

"No," I told her, "I don't play pretend. I'm an adult."

Madlyn laughed, "Yeah, sure!" her laughing continued as Iris came to sit on the coffee table, politely waiting for something to be decided upon. "What if we play video games?" I shook my head. I had a game on still, but had been interrupted while playing. "Board games?" I shook my head again. This wasn't the 1500s, we weren't going to play monopoly! "You're boring."

"Why don't we talk," Iris suggested thoughtfully. "I often find that talking aloud helps me clear my inner most personal thoughts." I stared to her, blinking and thinking all at the same time and wondered if maybe that would help me. I had a lot of inner demons to fight out—mostly my issues with Aika.

I nodded, "Talking could be fun," I agreed. Madlyn groaned and laid her head back. I didn't pay her any attention, and instead started telling Iris—and to some degree Madlyn as well—all of my problems. I started with Aika and Nikko's relationship of course because they were where it all started. Now if I dated Aika, then Nikko would hate me, and if I didn't choose Aika, then _she'd_ hate me. It was a pretty tough decision since my crest was Friendship, but Aika seemed to have made the choice _for_ me. All I wanted was her undivided attention, but for some reason she just kept getting mad at me.

Whenever I paused in the story Iris politely waited for me to continue, lost in thought about my words. She was a great listener. Madlyn always took my pauses as an opportunity to talk—but didn't she know that this conversation was for _my_ benefit? Or was that not obvious enough yet?

These two girls were so opposite, which I supposed made sense, given their delegated crests.

" _This is very important," Hikari said softy, patting Madlyn's shoulder, "my crest is the embodiment of light and it means a lot to the world, just like all the crests."_

" _But," Kurayami said to Iris politely, "Darkness keeps the balance in check. You need to be_ very _careful and wary about how the two crests intertwine with one another. They are opposites, but they're the same."_

" _Like us," Madlyn giggled. Hikari nodded, poking Madlyn's nose._

" _What do we do?" Iris wanted to know._

" _You just be yourself," Hikari explained. "You won't always know the best way to handle the situation, but in the end, good will always prevail."_

 _Iris and Madlyn looked to each other with big wide eyes and then grinned. I didn't think it was fair that everyone gathered around to watch the two of them get their crests because for mostly everyone else it was a kind of private affair, but for this it was apparently more important. Iris and Madlyn finally looked to their elders and nodded, ready to take the crests._

 _Kurayami and Hikari both reached out, but hesitated. They didn't know which child was to receive which crest. There was a bit of commotion before they crossed their hands over so they were each holding both girls hands. Then with a flash of light, the crests had been passed off._

To this day we had no idea which girl had which crest, but in a lot of ways it was safer that way. I _had_ read Takeru's books. I knew the struggles Hikari and Kurayami went through. They were similar, but very different. If Madlyn and Iris never really knew which crest they were representing they would always be themselves with less pressure. Hopefully that helped ease the ache of bearing such important crests because Iris didn't deserve that.

"Maybe if you hadn't embarrassed her brother," Iris suggested with a quiet voice, when my ranting was finally completed. "Aika cares very much for Shouta, and you made him feel uncomfortable."

"I was _trying_ to help," I groaned. "I just want her to stop playing hard to get."

"Maybe she isn't playing hard to get," Madlyn said, sounding actually angry with me for some reason. "Maybe she doesn't like you because you're conceited and angry. Maybe all the other girls you meet think that's charming, but I certainly don't. You should stop being so arrogant and maybe she'll see that you're not so bad after all. But if she says 'no' you need to _back_ off! Even if she _means_ 'yes'!" Madlyn was shrieking by the end of her rant and she slipped off the couch before storming away to go outside to play with the digimon.

I watched her go, internally debating with myself. Was she just being Madlyn and saying nonsense again? Somehow I didn't think so. "She's right, isn't she?" I asked Iris.

She nodded slowly, "I'm afraid so," she admitted, "If you try to be who you are right now, instead of who you think your friends want you to be—"

"What do you mean?" I asked, cutting her off and puffing my chest out.

Iris sighed, "I mean stop _that_ ," she groaned, pushing me back into the couch. "You're silly when you're with your friends. When you're at home you're a lot nicer and you just opened up about your feelings. A lot of boys think it isn't okay to have feelings, but that's not true. A boy can cry, and a girl can fight. A boy can wear makeup and a girl can cut her hair short. There are no limitations, Elliot. You need to be _yourself_ and then Aika will like you, but you need to focus on being her friend first."

" _Uh, Elliot?" Yamato said, sounding far too nervous for someone his age._

" _Who are you?" I asked, looking up to him and trying to remember where I had seen him before._

 _He seemed surprised that I didn't know who he was, but then nervous that I might be frightened. I wasn't though. "Look, the two of us have a conn—"_

" _Do ya teach at my school?" I asked, interrupting him. Yamato shook his head, "Do you have a kid?"_

 _Yamato nodded, "Yes, two—Shouta and Aika."_

" _Oh I know Aika!" I shouted, clapping my hands together. "She's my friend."_

" _Sure," Yamato nodded, "Now anyway—"_

" _Nikko loves her."_

 _Yamato seemed to be getting angry now and he reached out to grab my shoulder, "Louisa has a crest right?" I nodded, pouting. The bully always rubbed it in my face. "Now you do too, okay?" with a flash of blue my entire body warmed up and a grin formed on my face, "Don't misuse it. And hey—always be a good friend to Aika." I was still grinning, thinking of how cool it would be to show Louisa and Nikko my new crest, as Yamato walked off to Sora._

" _What was that?" she asked in a whispered tone, "That wasn't very motivational."_

" _I'm sure he gets it," Yamato shrugged, "It's Friendship, how hard can it be?"_

"You're _right_!" I exclaimed, thinking about Iris' words. I _did_ need to focus on being Aika's friend before we could date! She needed friends more than she needed another stupid boy to slip in and ruin her life, which I was sure to do a few times with how dramatic she and I could both be.

Iris nodded because she _knew_ she was right. "Madlyn says you remind her of Izumi," Iris said, which was like _really_ rude. Izumi wasn't a nice girl at _all_. "But she only means when you're at school. See, Izumi feeds our hatred toward Taro and Yukai. I don't even know _why_ we hate them anymore. We just _do_. Izumi is the boss and everyone does as she says and she doesn't listen to what people say when they tell her 'no'. She just does it anyway."

I hummed softly, despising the comparison to the demon child that was Izumi. I mean she wasn't _horrible_ , but she once spread a rumour that I was born with claws instead of fingernails and somehow it spread all the way to New York and then it was in the tabloids that the famous man, Michael Washington, had a werewolf son. It was pretty rude of her actually. "Izumi's such a bad person."

"She isn't," Iris shook her head, "Right now she's doing all she can to help out a friend. She's a really _good_ person who makes _really_ bad impressions."

 _Like me_.

"Okay, so I should get her and Shouta to get to know each other," I decided, clapping my hands together. It was perfect! Shouta was who had I had drawn for the Secret Santa anyway, so if I could get him a girlfriend, obviously he would be happy! Then Aika would be even _more_ happy and maybe she'd be my friend again!

"Don't do that," Iris shook her head.

"No, trust me, Shouta loves Izumi," I told her, trying to assure her that my idea was golden. But her face fell in such a sad way that I couldn't help but stare and actually wonder _why_ she looked that way. It didn't take long to figure out though. Iris was sad because Shouta loved _Izumi_ and not her!

Then it hit me. I had seen Shouta staring at all _three_ girls.

Shouta loved _Iris_!

Man, I had the perfect gift for Shouta! And it had been under my nose the whole time!

 **Featured Evolution Line: Elliot:** Datirimon—Chapmon—Kamemon—Gwappamon—Shawjamon—JumboGamemon


	13. No One

**U/N:** When we had planned the massive story for these children (before deciding against writing it of course) Mai was the character I was most looking forward to writing as, but oddly she was one of the hardest for me to do. I still really like her and she's in my list of top five favourite children here, probably beaten only by Tenshi and Chika. I dunno, I like her anyway, I don't know how well her personality comes across but there was a lot planned for her and she's pretty complicated so we had to really strip back what we had planned. Dunno if it comes across well though.

 **Title: Here Comes Santa Claus**

 **By: UrazamayKing**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.**

 **Chapter 13: No One**

 _ **Mai Ichijouji:**_

"Mai, you can tell me anything," Louisa was saying in a genuinely interested voice. I thought for a moment I _could_ tell her, but I just knew something else was up with her. I had listened to her talk about her day and the whole time something felt off, like she was digging for something. I wasn't going to give her any information if she was going to pry for it. That was _my_ job. I was the detective and the one who knew how to sift through lies and deceit. I could see Louisa coming a mile away!

I adjusted the phone so it was rested firmly between my ear and shoulder as I continued folding the laundry I had recently pulled from the machine. "Louisa, there's really nothing going on with me, I swear." Of course I was lying.

"Well, if you say so," Louisa pouted. I couldn't see that she was pouting, but she definitely _was_. She was silent for a moment as my pile of folded clothes began to grow, and then she said, "Tenshi's audition went well."

"I heard, actually," I said. I was quite proud of him of course, but I did not see why it was crucial information to say over the phone during our 'emergency conversation' as Louisa had dubbed it. "That's wonderful news though."

"Yeah," Louisa agreed, "And Kana's getting into school, and Renjiro probably will too." Of course I knew that Renjiro hadn't received his college acceptance yet, but Louisa was on a roll, so I wasn't going to question where she was going. "Yeah, my friends are doing _pretty_ good." She paused, "What about your friends?"

"Oh," I said—though I hadn't meant to voice my realization, so I would have to work on how I reacted when receiving important news. It _was_ a little amusing to think that Louisa was calling me to find out more information about Haruki. I wasn't about to tell her anything he'd said about her, because that would be breaking his trust, and that meant a lot to me, but I didn't see any harm in talking _about_ him, especially if it helped the two of them finally get together. "Well, his tennis racket is going unused."

"Oh no!" Louisa gasped dramatically.

"I know," I said, nodding along, and trying to hide my smile by keeping my voice steady. Poromon noticed me forcing my smile away and fluttered from my bed over into the pile of unfolded laundry. He wanted to hear too. I set the phone down and turned it to speaker so we could both listen. "He's just really busy, but I miss going to his games."

"Me too," Louisa sighed, "He was so good!"

"Well he _did_ have a scholarship," I explained.

"What about soccer?" Louisa inquired, not at all subtly, "He was teaching kids to play soccer, is he still doing that?"

"I don't believe so," I said, remembering back to when he had tried to rope _me_ into that job too. I wasn't much of a sports person, much to Dad's dismay. I could catch a ball, and sometimes even keep up with Dad in soccer, but only when he _let_ me. I still enjoyed playing though. It was one of the wonderful parts of having a large family. Dad teamed up with Taro and Josei, while Osamu and I helped Mom and Hawkmon. We got a larger team because Dad was just so good at the game. Wormmon was jealous that he couldn't play, and had once turned to Stingmon, but he had popped the ball and the game ended pretty quickly, so he was the referee now, which he liked just as much. "Like I said, he's busy with school."

"So he doesn't even read to the blind orphaned children anymore?" Louisa asked, aghast.

I paused and looked up to Poromon, confused, "He never did that, Louisa."

"Oh that must've just been in my head." I heard her gasp at what she'd said, but Poromon threw his wings over his beak to stop himself from outright laughing. "I mean—Haruki isn't in my head." Louisa denied.

I decided I'd let it slide, but if she really thought she was being secretive, she clearly didn't think very highly of my deductive reasoning skills. "You know," I said finally, "I think Haruki might actually be home right now. He may be studying, but you could always call him."

There was a pause as Louisa thought it through. "You think he'd be okay with that?"

"I can't see why not," I urged, trying to encourage her to go through with it.

But then she sighed, "I'd better not, I have school soon," she sighed again, this time even more disappointed sounding, "Thanks for talking to me, Mai."

"It's no—" I had started, only to be cut off by Louisa who sounded embarrassed and nervous.

"Are you in love with Haruki?" she blurted out with such force that Poromon rolled backwards with shock. When he steadied himself he looked up to me with one eye raised. I felt my mouth curl into a frown at the thought. No, I was not in love with Haruki. It wouldn't work between us anyway, but I couldn't really explain that to Louisa because she wouldn't pay attention. Or she wouldn't be able to hear properly anyway. She was always lost in the trees on her way to the forest.

"I am not," I assured her, "honest. Haruki is single—as free as a bird." Poromon fluttered into the air to show how free _he_ was as well and I flashed a smile in his direction, because I was proud at how well he was flying again after his injury—which was entirely his fault. He now knew that he could not carry something and fly at the same time. Simultaneously he learned that jumping off the roof of the house was in fact one of the very _worst_ ways to start off an experiment.

"Hmm," Louisa hummed, "If you say so." I heard someone at the door downstairs, hitting the doorbell and I turned back to the phone to tell Louisa I had to go, but she was one step ahead of me. "I'd better get out of your hair then," she said, still sounding like she didn't believe me at all. "It was nice talking to you, Mai."

"You as well, Louisa," then, as I heard a knock on my bedroom door, Louisa and I hung our phones up. There was another knock on the door and I tossed my phone aside, catching sight of myself in the mirror. I straightened out my hat, and turned to the door as whoever it was knocked once more.

"Oh you are here," Taro said as I pulled the door open. "I told the girl to wait at the door, I've never seen her. I didn't want to let her in if she was a thief." I was confused but set off toward the front door as Taro continued talking. "She seemed nice and she said she knew you." I was barely paying attention now as I jumped down the last couple steps. "her hair was pretty—"

"Clio?" I felt complete shock run through my body and I straightened the glasses on my face. Clio was standing in the door, her blonde hair was messy and hung over one shoulder, as the other side of her head was cut very short. She was so cool. Her shirt had little hearts all over it, but her necklace had a shark's tooth strung up. She was wearing leather boots, and a black skirt, but her tights were flashy and matched the violet streaks in her hair. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to see _you_ ," Clio said, rolling her big bluish-green eyes.

I grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her into the house, closing the door behind her. I dragged her through the living room and toward the stairs where Taro was waiting. I stepped around him and was halfway up the stairs before he said anything, "Mai, I'm hungry."

"Uh—" I hesitated. Mom had taken Osamu and Josei out to work on their Secret Santa gifts. Taro was supposed to go too but whoever he had been expected to buy for already had the 'perfect' present all wrapped up in Taro's room. "Ask Hawkmon." I turned to the stairs again and was dragging Clio, but apparently Taro wasn't satisfied.

"Hawkmon is with Mom," he shouted up.

"Then I'll be down in a minute, I promise," I called to him, but I was already rounding the corner to make it up the last few steps. I threw the door open to my bedroom and saw Poromon sitting in the window seat, staring wistfully out at the clouds. "Mai," he said without looking to me, "I was wondering... why is Louisa going to school so late at night?"

"Time difference," I explained simply, closing the door finally.

"She's using the Time Key?" Poromon asked in total shock, rounding toward Clio and I. He paused when he caught sight of Clio, but then he smiled, mostly with his eyes. Because he was a bird. "Hello, Clio!"

She waved to him and kindly stepped over the laundry basket to sit in the seat with him. She pulled him up into her lap and he giggled as she hugged him closer, "A time difference is just what happens on Earth because the sun rises at different times in different places."

"So since you live in America, you wake up at a different time?" Poromon's inquiry seemed to amuse Clio who grinned. I couldn't help but smile too, because her smile was so infectious. I fell to my knees to continue my laundry as my heart fluttered excitedly.

"Exactly," Clio said, still smiling. "I just woke up."

"But it's like nine o'clock in the evening!" Poromon shrieked, appalled, "You lazy butt!" Clio laughed loudly because it seemed like Poromon just _wasn't_ going to understand. It wouldn't be the first time. He was still sometimes startled at how many people we could fit inside the TV—though I think he assumed it was more like the Digital World, and that we were simply using some kind of magical box to view their lives. He didn't like the idea because he thought someone might be watching _him_. I hoped that things made a little more sense to him whenever he grew to a higher stage, but he had been this way for nineteen years. With no reason to fight, there wasn't much chance of him showing his new forms very often. I _had_ seen him become a rookie _once_ , but it hadn't lasted long, and good thing too because Hawkmon wouldn't be very pleased that he became a _Falcomon_ instead. I didn't mind though. If ever the time came, I had the crest of Purity to help get him all the way to a mega form!

" _Mai," Mimi said sweetly as she ran a brush through my tangled hair. We had spent the day at an amusement park, and while it had been fun both of us had been blindsided by how windy it would be at the top of the taller rides, and our long hair became a mess. "You're old enough now to know about the Crests."_

" _Sure," I nodded, "Honour keeps the world in check and kindness keeps hearts open and loving. And the others exist too, but I don't hear about them as much."_

" _Would you like to?" Mimi wondered. I nodded and she smiled. "Well,_ my _Crest is Purity. It means a lot more than the name implies." That seemed to be the case with most of the Crests, so I believed her. "It is about honesty inside yourself. It means to always be true to the person you are, even if the entire world is against what you stand for. I can't tell you how many times Koushiro has been embarrassed by something I've said in public, but it's who I am, and I have to love that about myself, no matter what anyone else says."_

" _That's so sweet," I smiled, liking the sounds of it already. "My speech for school last year was about bullying. I had a lot of information pooled together from the whole school and it turns out that more than ninety percent of the student body had been bullied by someone about their appearance or personality. I think we should all love ourselves and each other."_

" _I think you're right," Mimi said, and I looked back to her quickly when I thought I heard her crying. She_ was _crying. There was a single tear slipping down her cheek. I rounded on her and looked up, scared that I'd hurt her feelings. I could do that sometimes when I got into my reporter mode. Osamu used to cry all the time when I bombarded him with questions. "That's why you're perfect for the job."_

" _I'm too young for a job," I sighed, "Dad said so." I really wanted a job at the local newspaper place!_

 _Mimi shook her head, "This job can_ only _be done by someone young and pure, just like you." I nodded my head slowly, unsure where she was going. "Mai," she said, taking my hands, "will you take my Crest and bear the burden of Purity in your life?"_

" _Burden of Purity?" I asked, "That doesn't sound like a burden at all. It sounds like an honour, Mimi." A few more tears came from her eyes as she began to glow, and my body tingled as the warmth of her Crest was passed over to me._

At the time I hadn't realized how much of a burden it could actually be to be endlessly pure and truthful about the person you were. It wasn't as easy to do when the world wanted to see you fail.

I looked back over to Clio and Poromon and interrupted their conversation without putting too much thought into it. "Clio, why are you here?" Clio looked affronted, but then a smile crept onto her face. She set Poromon aside and hopped to her feet, pulling her bag up and reaching her hand inside.

"Louisa," Clio started, before putting a little more effort into digging through her cluttered bag, "she—she told me about the Christmas thing you guys were doing. I didn't even know that Japan celebrated Christmas differently, but I did some research, because it's only fair to learn about your culture." My heart fluttered again as Clio pulled a thin black box out of her bag. She smiled at the look on my face and she gently pushed the clothes basked aside with her foot before sitting on the floor in front of me.

"Clio," I said in awe, staring to the box. It wasn't even opened yet and I was shocked. She smiled and popped the top off the box and revealed a beautiful sparkling necklace with what looked to be diamonds encrusted into a beautiful golden heart. My mouth fell open and I just didn't even know what to say, so I just stared.

"Do you like it?" Clio asked, and all I could do was nod. She laughed and began pulling it from the box. "I knew you'd be busy on Christmas, and my Grandmother wants me with her _tomorrow_ since she won't have the rest of her grandchildren around—anyway, this was the closest to Christmas I could get." She motioned with her finger for me to turn around and I did so. She pulled my—now—short hair out of the way and dangled the necklace in front of me before hooking it up in the back. "Go see," Clio urged, pointing to my mirror.

I jumped to my feet and hurried over to see, and found myself staring into the reflection of a completely mediocre girl with a necklace that was sparkling from the overhead lighting. Of course I didn't actually find myself to be less than pretty, but the necklace was taking all of my attention. "Clio," I said in a breathy voice, turning to her as she hurried toward me. "I don't have anything ready for you yet."

"That's okay," she said, taking my hands, "Do you like it?"

"It's _beautiful,_ " I gasped before Clio leaned in to kiss me. She took me by surprise, but I always loved Clio's surprises.

When Poromon cleared his throat, I pulled back and looked to him. He was pointing—very obviously—to the bedroom door. I spun around, my heart skipping a beat, to see Taro standing, his grip slipping from the shiny glass knob. When his arm fell to his side he took a nervous step back.

"T-Taro," I called out, begging him to stay. He seemed to deliberate, wondering what his best option would be, and he finally decided it would be okay to come back in. "Can you sit down?" he nodded and moved across the room, nearly tripping over the rug, but he finally pulled himself up with Poromon, and I noticed Leafmon bouncing along behind him. I hadn't seen him at first, but really, anything Taro knew, Leafmon knew. There was no sense forcing a secret between the two of them. "Could you maybe… not tell anyone?"

"I won't," he promised, nodding his head. Leafmon nodded his own head in agreement, but Poromon was looking to him skeptically. Leafmon wasn't known for his wonderful secret keeping skills. "I—why did you—is that okay?"

Clio looked to me, urging me to answer him but I didn't know the delicate way to explain this to him. He knew of Kiyoko and Hideto, right? They were together too! They were two men, and surely that would be able to ease the explanation, but I wasn't really sure anyone had ever explicitly sat him down to tell him about the two of them. "Some people don't think it's okay," I told him softly, "But _I_ do."

"Me too," Clio added, "A lot of people don't see that love can come in many different forms," I was so thankful for Clio just then, she was really saving the day for me. "There are so many people who don't see it that way though. The world is on its way to seeing that love is _love_ no matter what it looks like." Taro nodded, confused, but interested.

"And sometimes it's hard," I said, "Because doing what is expected of you is sometimes a lot easier, but when you fight against what others want from you to do what you _know_ you need for yourself, you find that you're a lot happier." Clio smiled through pursed lips and reached her hand out to me. I grabbed hers and squeezed gently.

"Sometimes it isn't safe to hold hands," Clio said sadly, looking down to our intertwined fingers. "Some people see it as a personal offense and they can get pretty aggressive."

"That's why we don't want people to know," I told him softly, "We want each other to be safe, you see."

"Well you're safe with me!" Taro said excitedly. I was glad he was so excited about the prospect, but I wasn't sure I could really identify why he was taking it so personally. "I think that's _great_! Girls loving girls! Wait—boys can love boys too, right?"

"Hideto and Kiyoko are married, you know?" I prompted. Taro's face lit up and he grinned really wide.

" _Great_!" Taro exclaimed, and suddenly the pieces fit together in my mind. It was possible Taro was developing a little bit of a crush on his best friend, Yukai. Surely it would go nowhere—he was _seven_ years old—but it was cute and brave that he was experimenting with his feelings while being so young. "I promise I won't tell _anyone_ ," Taro said with a big smile, "I'll make sure Leafmon stays quiet too." He pulled the digimon into his arms and he headed for the door again, but he stopped halfway and looked back, "But maybe you should tell others anyway?" Clio and I looked to each other nervously. "I think others should hear what you just said. Maybe the bad guys would understand if you told people about it. Maybe other people too."

Then he was gone.

It wasn't long before Clio decided she should leave, since she was skipping school to be here with me, and I had also promised Taro that I would cook him something to eat, and so Clio, Poromon and I were on our way down the stairs when the front door flew open. Dad was in first, with Josei bouncing along behind him, singing a loud song about how happy she was.

"I bought a doll," she sang. "A pretty doll, a girly doll, a doll that's dressed in _pink_! And it's for _Kana_! Because I drew her name for Secret SANTA! And she's gonna _love_ it, because she loves pink _too_!" She jumped in the air for her big finish. "Probably." She added, wandering off with a shopping bag dragging along behind her. I could see the princess doll through the plastic of the bag.

"Don't worry," Mom assured me as she walked in, "I bought her a book to go along with it, just in case she doesn't like the doll." She _wouldn't_ like the doll, but I wasn't about to say anything in front of Josei.

Osamu and Wormmon were last through the door as Hawkmon hurried off, carrying both Minomon and Pururumon in his chase for Josei.

"What did you get?" Taro asked Osamu, appearing in the kitchen doorway. Osamu was pulling his shoes off and didn't seem to really notice. "Osamu?" Taro prompted. "Hey, Osamu, what did you buy?"

"Who's that?" Osamu asked, pointing up to Clio who I had nearly forgotten was standing on the stairs with me. My family was so large that it was sometimes hard to keep track of everyone. With four children, two parents and a digimon for each of us, it was no wonder Poromon didn't want to evolve—there just wasn't enough room!

I looked over to Clio and panicked, "No one," I shrugged off his question. I knew immediately it had been the wrong thing to say, but the look on Clio's face helped back up my conclusion if my own guilt wasn't enough proof. Her lips pursed, and she was hurt. I could tell she was hurt, but she shrugged it off and set off down the stairs.

"I was just leaving," Clio said, "It was nice to meet you all," she said briskly before closing the door behind her on her way out. I nearly groaned, realizing how stupid I had been, but Osamu stubbed his toe and cried out in pain as Josei began shrieking with Hawkmon wrapping his wings around her tightly. I hung my head. They had been back for only a moment and I was already getting a headache.

"Hey Mom?" Taro asked at the same time as she let out a loud sigh, and made her way to the couch, not having heard him.

" _What_ a day!" she shouted, exasperated.

"I'm hungry!" Taro shouted. I looked to him but he wasn't paying any attention. He wanted Mom. Probably for the better because I wasn't much of a cook anyway, and I was not in a good mood anymore.

Osamu was on the floor now, clutching his toe and silently embracing the pain. When he finally released his foot he flung himself back to where he laid on the floor. "Is no one going to ask why I'm so upset?"

"Why are you so upset?" I asked immediately.

"And no one even asked me how my shopping went either," I ignored him and he continued, "I need a present for Aika. Mom and Dad were no help—will you help?"

"Why don't you make your own decisions for once?" Taro asked, annoyed, but no one listened.

"Sure," I nodded, looking around to the mess of a family. "Yeah, of course." I grabbed Poromon out of the air and turned back to the stairs, marching straight back up. I would come down again when they managed to quiet themselves or go to sleep. My tired family was always more outgoing and loud than usual, and right then—in a state of mind where I just hurt the feelings of the one person I was supposed to _never_ do that to—I just need the world to be a little quieter.

 **Featured Evolution Line: Mai:** Nyokimon—Poromon—Falcomon—Peckmon—Crowmon—Ravemon


	14. Christmas Eve With You

**U/N:** I've written as Emiko before, so I did read her 'Moment' before going into this but honestly she's the most ridiculous person I've ever had to write as. Keep in mind that I write Michael. But it was still a lot of fun to be her, and to see her reactions to everyone else.

 **Title: Here Comes Santa Claus**

 **By: UrazamayKing**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.**

 **Chapter 14: Christmas Eve With You**

 _ **Emiko Kido:**_

So it was Christmas Eve already, and that was pretty unfortunate. For me, at least. I was really hoping that I would have found a way to trick everyone into getting me a present, even though they already knew it would have been a desperate rebound prank. I just really loved getting presents, and it was almost unfair that I was only getting _one_.

Sure, everyone else was going to get only one too, but that didn't mean I had to be on the same level as the rest of them! I was much older, which meant I needed more magic to satisfy me, and if Christmas was as magical as Louisa was making it out to be, then I wanted to _feel_ that. I needed as many presents as possible! But I couldn't, because it was too late now to pull any pranks over everyone's heads. I had thought about pretending to be deathly ill, but Azura assured me that it was offensive. It didn't matter now anyway. Even if I _could_ pull off a prank, I was missing my trusty sidekick, Monmon. He had left with all the other digimon to some rave or something.

Or maybe it was just a civilized party in the Coliseum, but in my head there were strobe lights, loud music and lots of alcohol. I would never _know_ exactly how the party was going though, because I wasn't allowed to go see. And _why_ were they there on Christmas _Eve_ if it was a Christmas party? I mean, really, it was rude—like everyone wanted to get rid of us as quickly as possible.

" _We have to go," Taichi insisted, "Neo doesn't like when people are late."_

" _You're rushing away to Neo's house?" I asked dryly. Taichi looked to me and seemed to realize how ridiculous it all sounded but he slowly nodded his head, trying to seem convincing._

 _Rei took over for Taichi as they both backed toward the door, "Emiko, you and Azura are the oldest, so you're in charge, we'll be back later tomorrow, and hopefully we'll have a home to come back to?"_

" _Of course," I said, waving him off, "I'm super reliable."_

" _Mhm…" Taichi said, sounding unsure. That was pretty rude in my opinion. "Okay everyone, have a good time—Nikko, don't let anyone break anything." Nikko saluted his father and then the two of them were making their way out of the house._

" _Tell Nevelen they're adorable for me!" Louisa called out as the door was finally closing._

The digimon left a few hours later, but with much more fanfare.

" _Is everyone in line?" Agumon barked, "You're_ not _, I can see you're not." They all shouted out to say that they were in fact in straight line. Aika's Yokomon was particularly aggressive, while she was the furthest from in place. "Please just straighten out?"_

" _Mwahahaha!" Pal shrieked, flying above everyone with an armful of water balloons. Pul followed behind with another armful, laughing all the while._

 _After a few minutes of screams filled with pure unadulterated terror, Pal and Pul had been wrestled down by Kotemon and Bearmon. They had nearly had them once, but Monmon let them go, and then Agumon had been forced to restrain Monmon._

 _It was all very funny. Eventually though, the digimon found themselves in a much more orderly line and Agumon finally took them out the door, each of them shouting a quick goodbye to their partner as they went. Monmon waved to me and then I saw a rather wicked glint in his eyes._

I could only hope that Monmon was crafty enough to play a massive prank on the entire Coliseum party that I wasn't invited to. I still really wanted to go.

But I couldn't, because I was babysitting a bunch of kids who didn't even bring me presents! That was just completely rude, really. I didn't want to spend one of the most romantic days of the entire year playing house with a bunch of kids who were too old to pretend to be my own children. I wouldn't even want most of them anyway!

I wouldn't mind having kids with Azura one day though. I was a little worried they'd be troublesome like me, but I was pretty sure I might just find that funny anyway, so would it really be an issue? Probably not. I found myself watching Azura actually. I was so _happy_ that he was here. Not only was I happy because babysitting was dreadful, and having him around would make it more fun. And not only was I relieved to find that one of the most romantic holidays was a time I was actually going to spend with someone I thought of romantically. And not only was I happy to see that he was handling the more annoying of the children—Madlyn especially. I was _also_ happy to know that he was willing to come hang out with a bunch of children when we weren't supposed to be, because that was amazing. It meant a lot to me that Azura was so confident in our relationship that he would spend so much time doing things he probably didn't want to do. He was the very best.

He supported my dancing more than anyone, and was the least surprised to find out I had been successful in the end. I was happy he was a vet too because the look of happiness he had on his face every day having been given the chance to help animals out was just wonderful. I did dread the day that he had to put one down for the first time though.

"It doesn't _matter_ ," Louisa growled. She was like twelve or something, so surely I wouldn't have to watch her as closely as the others. Wait—she looked way too old to be twelve. I mentally shrugged, not really caring how old she was. She was speaking with her brother who was _maybe_ actually twelve? Or maybe he was the older sibling. I shrugged again. I didn't know.

"I'm just wondering, calm down," Elliot said defensively, "Calm yourself."

"I'm curious too," Nikko added from his place next to his friend Elliot. This was Nikko's house. I wished he wasn't here so I could do some uninterrupted exploring. "I mean, Koromon doesn't like awkward silences—what if no one is talking to him."

"I bet Chapmon's keeping him company," Elliot assured Nikko who nodded.

"Look," Louisa said, "It doesn't matter what our digimon are doing, we're not going to see them, okay! We're going to spend a nice happy American Christmas in the Digital World, and if our digimon don't want to be here, that's their choice."

"Oh so _they_ get a choice?" Nikko asked, quiet enough that Louisa seemed not to have heard, but her brother stifled laughter.

Louisa sent a glare toward her brother before resuming her decorating. She had taken to being in charge of all of the festivities. It made babysitting a lot easier. Louisa had separated the entirety of the children into three specific groups. There was one group—Haruki and Renjiro—that had been asked to go cut down a tree to act as the Christmas tree, which was actually hilarious to think about. I kept visualizing Renjiro with an axe compared to Haruki and I was always unable to hold back my laughter, snorting into my lemon tea. The second group was Louisa's group which also consisted of Kana, Elliot, Nikko, Makoto, Osamu, Taro and Yukai. This group was unpacking all of the decorations that Louisa had brought with her, and preparing them for the tree and the general decorations for the house. The third group was probably having way more fun than anyone else. Louisa had put Tenshi and Mai in charge of that group, but they had roped Azura into helping too. Aika, Shouta and Hiro looked like they could not be having less fun as Izumi, Madlyn and Iris snipped away with the scissors. Louisa had asked them to create some new decorations—not trusting them with the ones she had bought probably. Josei was in this group too and she had an entire supervisor to herself, with Mai doing all the cutting for her.

As I was watching through all the children I realized that Chika was missing.

Slowly I got to my feet and stood on the arm of the chair I was sitting on for a better view. It seemed that she was gone. That was just like her, too. I sighed and began making my way through the house on my search for the little weirdo. I found her in the kitchen where she had her head pressed against the island counter. In front of her was a glass jar containing a single snowball.

" _What_ are you doing?" I asked her, sipping my tea through a straw as I waited for her to respond.

She sometimes took a while to notice that someone had spoken. She was so entranced in what she was doing usually, but eventually she did look over to me. "This is James," she said, poking the jar. "I read about James and the Giant Peach and thought it was a lovely name. Mom had the book, you see, and I wanted to be just like him." She sighed, "Only I didn't have a giant peach, so I grabbed a snowball instead. But _my_ name isn't James, either. So I named the snowball James."

"That's great," I offered, not sure really what to say.

"Is it?" she asked sadly, resting her head down again to stare at James the snowball. "He's dying."

I rolled my eyes and decided to leave Chika alone to mourn the death of her melting snowball friend, but since she was occupied, I figured now was as good a time as any to take her shoes. They were easy to spot because they were ridiculously patterned clunky winter boots. I decided to switch the liners with Josei's. It was a tough fit to get them into the smaller boots, but Chika was going to think her feet grew and that was pretty funny.

As I returned to the main room I found that Haruki and Renjiro had found a nice tree. They hadn't made it inside yet though. I could see them through the large window and Haruki offered the axe out to Renjiro who nodded nervously. I heard a lot of complaining going on around me, but I wasn't interested. I _had_ to see Renjiro cut a tree down. After a few moments of Haruki explaining how to hold the tool—also hilarious—Renjiro swung back and all at once the axe was flying toward the tree.

Only it went right _through_ the tree. It was a itty-bitty hiding tree! I spit my drink out, spraying it all over the floor in front of me, and I felt some of it go up my nose too but I couldn't stop laughing. The sight of Renjiro falling face first into the snow was too much.

Makoto and Hiro rushed over to the window to see what had happened, but only caught the tail end of Haruki pulling Renjiro to his feet—it was still funny though.

"Em," Azura had snuck up behind me and was suddenly wrapping his arms around my middle. I hummed happily as I rested my head on his shoulder. "The kids are getting restless." I looked over to the craft table where Josei was pouring a big pile of glue while Madlyn cheered her on. He was right. We would have to do something about this of course.

I nodded and slipped away, finding Louisa who was stringing brightly coloured lights around the big open window. I noticed her gaze out to Renjiro a couple times, probably expecting him to fall again. He was pretty smart though, so I doubted he would make the same mistake twice. Besides, the two were moving further into the trees. "Louisa," I said, startling her. "We need to shake things up, the kids are bored."

She looked back to the others as if she had forgot anyone else was present and then she nodded, climbing down the step ladder she had climbed up on. She hurried to a nearby table and grabbed her clipboard, "Okay, we still need to make nine snow reindeer outside—make that eight, I want to make Rudolph." I rolled my eyes, but she continued, "You could have the younger ones hang up their new art work—oh, I guess they're a bit short, aren't they?"

"Young too," I added. Besides, their art was hideous. I had faith that even Chika could make something nicer than they had. "Anything else on that list, or should I just think up a game or something?"

"Oh no," Louisa shook her head, "You don't have _time_ for games. We need everything ready for tonight so we can tell stories around the fireplace."

"Ooh!" I said excitedly, thinking up the best ghost stories I could think of.

"Stories about family and togetherness," She added hastily, pointing her pencil in my face, she looked back to the list and looked confused. I didn't see how that was possible. It was pretty clear to me that Louisa had not made the schedule. Kana's name was written all over the organized sheet. "Well, there's cookies—"

" _Done_ ," I declared with as much vigor as I could, "Where are they?"

"It's not for _eating_ ," Louisa said, rolling her eyes, "You have to make them for Santa!"

"That sounds awful," I groaned. In what world would I want to make cookies for someone _else_? I barely ever made food for myself. Louisa was looking to me like I was a child though so I straightened out my back, "Sure, I can do that," I said, trying to sound as mature as possible.

Louisa smiled and took a step out to see around me. She held the pencil to her lips as she scanned the room in thought. Then when she finally nodded she pointed dramatically to the air with the very same pencil. "Everyone!" she called loudly, easily catching everyone's attention. Even Elliot's, and he seemed to enjoy ignoring her as much as I enjoyed pulling pranks on Renjiro. It seemed that everyone was just _so_ bored, that anything Louisa had to say was bound to be more interesting to them. "We're changing the groups up," instantly they began looking to her with fiery eyes, desperate for her to not split them apart from their closer friends. "So," Louisa said, "Emiko will be baking cookies in the kitchen," several children's faces lit up, "And she will take Izumi, Madlyn and Iris." Madlyn pumped her fists in the air, but her sister simply smiled softly. Izumi, with hands on hips, looked side to side to her backup girls with a sly smile, like baking cookies was being asked to prom by the quarterback or something. "As well as Taro and Yukai, and also Hiro." Nikko and Elliot sighed, releasing each other's arms, saved from Louisa's split. "Hmm, yeah, you'd better go too Nikko."

"What?" Elliot groaned, "You're so mean—let him stay!"

"It's _his_ kitchen," Louisa argued, "He'll know it better than anyone else."

"True," Nikko sighed, getting to his feet. Makoto and Osamu were quick to take Nikko's place as he wandered over to Hiro, who I was pretty sure was also his friend. Hiro seemed pleased to be taken away from Tenshi, but both boys seemed annoyed that they'd been grouped in with the children.

"Kana, you will string the popcorn I have in the kitchen," Louisa said, humming, "And everyone else will resume decorating until we have completed the theme and style I'm going for. That's 1950s glam Christmas, if anyone was wondering."

They probably weren't, but I didn't say anything. Louisa was one person who just _wasn't_ fun to upset. I was following the lead of Nikko as he wandered off toward the kitchen with the rest of our group in his wake. Azura stopped me by grabbing my hand and kissed my cheek. "Save me a cookie," he cooed.

"Sure thing," I winked. "Have fun decorating."

"I'll try," he said, and I could tell he was _actually_ trying to have fun which was pretty amazing. I slipped away from him then though, making my way to the kitchen where I immediately saw that the group had been split in a way I wasn't expecting. Izumi and Hiro had wandered over to where Chika was staring to a jar half filled with water, half with snow and the three were conversing in secret. They weren't even being subtle about it though.

I would have found it strange if I hadn't known they were talking about that cello that Izumi had supposedly promised them _today_. Obviously she didn't have a cello, but maybe it was still coming. The day was not over yet. As I walked by I heard her say, "It took longer than I thought," in a whispered tone, "Daddy says it's here though." So the cello had come in secret. I would have congratulated them all on a trick well played, but I caught sight of Nikko. He had his head pressed in between his hands as he glared toward the group of them. I didn't know why, nor did I care why.

"Hey!" Yukai barked, ripping the massive cookbook out of Madlyn's hands, "You got the glue first, so I get the _book_ first!"

"Fine," Madlyn decided, releasing the book and causing Yukai to fall backward. He would have toppled out of the stool he was resting on if Taro hadn't caught him. "Then I get to taste the cookie dough first."

"No!" Yukai shrieked in a panic, "Let me! You can have the book!"

"Nope," Madlyn refused, "I don't even want it."

"Cookie dough is unhealthy anyway," Kana shot out, stopping the kids from arguing as she pulled up a massive bag of popcorn. I eyed it hungrily, but Kana caught sight of me and pulled it closer to her, preparing to string it up.

The discarded book had been collected by Taro and Iris who began reading it together, finding a recipe for sugar cookies. Apparently Santa liked them. I wouldn't know. Chika grew excited about the prospect of baking and she wandered off to supervise the four younger children. Chika was the _last_ person I would have left in charge of an oven, but I didn't really care. Nikko was here, and he was trusting her. It was _his_ house, so whatever.

Izumi stayed back, standing with her arms crossed as a devilish smile played on her face as she watched the four children arguing with one another. She obviously had something to do with it. That girl was more evil than _I_ was!

Kana sat silently in her chair at the island counter and I joined her, sneaking a piece of popcorn every few seconds or so. She noticed, but didn't seem to mind _that_ much. Across from us, Hiro sat, watching the kids bake, and after a while, Nikko joined, glaring at Hiro as if he had been the cause of the apocalypse or something. That obviously wasn't true. I think I would remember the apocalypse happening. I _was_ a pretty heavy sleeper though, and I had slept until noon that day, so maybe not.

"Why don't you care that I'm angry with you?" Nikko asked.

Hiro seemed startled, like he hadn't even noticed the boy was there at all. "You're angry?" Hiro asked, "What did I do?"

Nikko shook his head and let his eyes flick over to Chika as she dumped a bunch of sugar into the bowl claiming that you didn't need to measure if you didn't want to. Her mom never did anyway. "You're my _cousin_!" Nikko growled, "I can't believe you're going to take her."

"Wha-what?" Hiro stammered, looking back around to Chika, "Oh—no, Nikko—"

"Don't try to explain yourself—" Nikko cut in.

Hiro wasn't finished though, "I promise I'm not stealing her from you—"

"She isn't an object," Kana said sharply, "And in case you haven't noticed she has a mind of her own. A rather vivid and strong one. You can't _steal_ a person. She will make up her own mind and you'll both have to live with that."

Hiro and Nikko stared to Kana with wide, unblinking eyes, annoyed. Then both shrugged her off then turned back to each other, "You're a jerk, Hiro."

"You know," Hiro snapped, "Everyone seems to think that, but no one has taken a moment to actually _think_ about what they're accusing me of!" He caught my eye and knew I was thinking about the cello. I wouldn't say anything because Kana was here. I knew _she_ would tell Renjiro and ask if he thought Tenshi deserved to know and I knew Renjiro well enough to know that he _would_ tell Tenshi, then Hiro would get in trouble. As it stood, Hiro owed me. I wasn't going to risk that.

I heard a rather aggressive growl and turned in time to see Yukai whack Madlyn over the head with a wooden spoon. For a moment, in the room that fell dead silent, I thought Madlyn was going to cry, but instead she turned slowly to Yukai and kicked off the floor, leaping toward him. She slammed him to the ground near Izumi who took one calm step aside. I thought she was the antichrist, honestly, until I saw the look of panic on her face. So she wasn't such a demon after all. She had a heart somewhere in there.

" _Emiko_!" Kana insisted.

Oh right! I was babysitting! I jumped to my feet, dropping my handful of popcorn and rushed over to the children. Iris was backed against a wall in fear as Taro screamed at Yukai and Madlyn to stop fighting. Neither were listening though. When Yukai had rolled over so he was on top I scooped him up and into my arms, dragging him away from the fight. He nearly hit _me_ in the head with a spoon which I was just _not_ okay with. I set him down at the other side of the room and grabbed his arm when he tried to race back toward Madlyn.

"Kana," I said, "You're in charge of baking." She looked confused and held up her string of popcorn, but I ignored her. "There is too much aggression in this room. We're going to have a snowball fight."

Nikko was already on his feet. "I'm on the opposite team as Hiro."

"Fine by me," Hiro snarled, following him out of the room to get ready. The rest of the kids seemed to immediately forget that they hated each other and rushed off after them to get ready to go outside. Chika seemed worried that she hadn't been invited so I waved her along and left Kana alone. I was sure she wouldn't mind. Probably. I didn't know her that well honestly. For all the time she spent at my house you'd think I would.

Before the snowball fight I had a pretty good laugh at Chika trying to squeeze into her boots, but eventually Nikko helped her out, explaining what I had done. Chika laughed along, which was why she was so fun to play with. But then we were all outside, throwing snowballs around. Nikko had teamed up with Chika, Taro and Yukai against Hiro, Madlyn, Iris and Izumi. Izumi mostly stood back and watched, which was fair since Chika had wondered off to compare snowflakes to one another. Yukai aimed solely for Madlyn, while she was furiously firing at anyone she could hit—including _me_ and I wasn't even playing. Hiro and Nikko were in their own separate world though, getting their anger out by hitting each other with snow.

Oh, children. They were so easy to deal with. After a while the kids were laughing and having _fun_ , which was much more Christmas-like, I thought, and yet no side seemed to be hell-bent on winning anymore, and that just wasn't fun. I needed fear and panic.

I rushed to the house to borrow Azura's mittens, because I needed to join the game as my own team if they were going to have enough competitive drive stringing them along, but as I reached Azura's bag, I found his mittens were missing. I kept looking of course, and eventually found them in the bottom. Stupid place to keep mittens really—but they weren't alone.

There was a tiny black box waiting just underneath and my heart skipped a beat. And in that skipped beat, my head had thought of a plan.

 **Featured Evolution Line: Emiko:** Pafumon—Kyaromon—Monmon—Apemon—Gokuwmon—Zamielmon


	15. Deck the Halls

**Y/N:** This is the second time I wrote as Louisa and Osamu both. I liked the way their characters sort of developed. They didn't have a very long journey, but then, the stories not very long itself. I hope you enjoy their story, however short it is!

 **Title: Here Comes Santa Claus**

 **By: YukiraKing**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.**

 **Chapter 15: Deck the Halls**

 _ **Louisa Washington:**_

"We should turn the lights on!" Renjiro suggested, really getting into the excitement of Christmas. He was wrong of course, we couldn't turn them on yet. It just wasn't the right time.

"It has to be the perfect moment," I told him, shaking my head quickly. "It's so important. We'll do it later. Everything's looking pretty good so far, everybody."

"Thank you," Josei said, as if I'd been talking only to her. She was such a cutie pie. She was also annoying and self centred, but it was a cute look on her, so I didn't even care. Her glasses were far too big for her face, since her parents bought them that way, hoping she'd be able to grow into them, and it just made her look smaller and helpless. She was too precious for words, and her little lilac pigtails just added to the general affect. She was wearing a crimson velvet party dress, with bright green tights with little red, gold and silver presents sparkling on them too. She was the most invested in my perfect Christmas. Even Elliot wasn't as excited as she was. He was just wearing his normal clothes. That didn't even make any sense.

Christmas had been Elliot's favourite holiday since he was two and actually understood what was happening. And instead of celebrating properly, he was trailing along behind Aika as she and Shouta strung lights around the mantelpiece, winding the light strands around the pine boughs that Mai had already put in place. Aika's eye was twitching, but since Shouta seemed so happy to have her helping him, she refused to walk away, making Elliot think she didn't mind his attention. It was a vicious cycle really.

It was a comfort, at least, to know that Elliot was even more hopeless than I was when it came to romance. I was watching Haruki sort through red, green and white pillar candles, trying to glue little holly leaves around their bases, and attaching them to square mirror's I'd found to make sure the wax wouldn't spread _everywhere_. I was more than a little distracted by the sight of him. Mai was sitting right next to him, laughing every time the holly leaves fell off, but he didn't seem to be getting annoyed by it at all. I was starting to revisit the idea that they were secretly dating. It was the only thing that made sense.

"This is pointless," Makoto groaned, as he tried to attach little candleholders to the boughs of the tree that Haruki and Renjiro had picked out. It was gorgeous. It was perfect. And since Renjiro had already wound strands of lights into it that would cast a warm glow when the tree was finished, the rest of us were able to decorate the tree. As it turned out, the kids' handmade decorations were kind of horrible, so I let Osamu hang them around the front door, out of sight of the _main_ Christmas location, but still somewhere that the kids could see them and be proud of them. Once Osamu had finished with that, he had gone to the kitchen to collect the popcorn and cranberries that I'd initially asked Kana to string together, but she hadn't managed to do so.

That was because Emiko had abandoned her in the kitchen, leaving Kana to do _all_ of the baking by herself, which was stressing her out—so Tenshi volunteered to give her a hand.

"It's not pointless, it's fun!" Josei corrected.

"I guess," Makoto sighed, having difficulties with keeping the candle holders upright. "Aika, could you give me a hand?"

"Me?" Aika asked, narrowing her eyes at him and looking to Elliot, who was one of Makoto's closest friends, but Makoto just shrugged.

"Yeah, you, get over here," Makoto said, rolling his eyes at her. She looked suspicious, then confused before she settled on tentative happiness. She was being included, and it really was beautiful. I knew the power of Christmas was spectacular. She looked to Shouta, who hesitated before assuring her he was fine on his own. He glanced at Elliot, and then firmed his resolve, continuing to hang lights on the mantle.

Aika managed to sort out whatever issue Makoto had been having with ease—which made me think it was partially fabricated, and a ruse to get Aika to be his friend again. The tree was really shaping up. I was hanging pretty balls of solid, metallic colour on the tree. I wanted a specific colour scheme with the balls, so that the popcorn and cranberry garland that Osamu was working on wouldn't clash. It was a delicate balance.

"Looking good, Josei," Haruki complimented, leaving Mai to figure out the rest of the candles. I straightened up, since Haruki was so close to me. I had to look my best in hopes of catching his eye.

"Thank you," Josei said politely, while using a tone that said she already knew how great the tree looked—and it did look great. It was almost perfect. "I want to put the angel at the top now."

"What?" I asked sharply. "But _I_ put the angel at the top. It's my job."

" _Now, who can put the angel at the top of the tree?" Dad said dramatically. He threw his hand to his forehead. "Oh, woe is me, I can't do it alone. It's just too far for me to reach."_

" _Don't look at me," Mom said holding a hand to her heart. "I'm shorter than you. It's way too far for me to reach too."_

" _Pick me up Daddy!" I said, giggling at them. "I can reach really high!"_

" _You can, can you?" he asked. He put his finger to his chin thinking really hard about it. "I think she's right, Tatum." He picked me up as high as he could, and Mom handed me the angel. I put it on the top without any trouble, because I was an unusually dextrous two year old. And then Dad pulled me down, spinning me in a circle and tickled my belly. "She did it Tatum. Our angel put the angel on the tree. How about that?"_

" _She did good," Mom said happily. "I think that should be her job."_

" _I think it fits," Dad agreed, tickling me again. "You think so, angel?"_

" _Uh-huh," I said with big grin, happy to have been of help, since they were so hopeless without me._

"You've been doing such a great job with the place," Haruki said, glancing at Renjiro over my shoulder. I couldn't see what Renjiro was doing, but it didn't matter. Haruki was talking to me. He was complimenting me. I tried to remember what my magazines told me to do if a situation like this came up, but my mind was blanking. The only thing I could think of was that he was looking at my eyes. He wasn't avoiding them. He was looking directly at them. I felt like I was on cloud nine.

"You think so?" I asked, sounding like an idiot, and berating myself internally. That was so lame. I needed to leave an impression.

"I really do," he said, smiling softly. He looked hesitant for a second, but he glanced to Mai—breaking my heart a little bit as he did—and then nodded to himself. "What you're doing, what you're sharing with us, it's beautiful. The tradition of family and togetherness and love, it's important. It's kind of the most important thing in the world to me."

"Because of your Crest," I said, nodding, remembering that his was Love. Mine was Strength, and unlike everyone else, I didn't get it from a random Digidestined. My Dad gave it to me. I was both proud and embarrassed by that fact. I was embarrassed because no one else thought I was good enough for a Crest, and my _dad_ had to give it to me. But I was proud of keeping it in the family.

" _Louisa, I need to tell you a story," Dad said, setting me down. I was eleven, and I was way too old for story time, but I sat down anyway, because it looked like this was important to him._

" _What is it Dad?"_

" _My mother died, when I was young," he said. "But she had strength that couldn't be equaled. I was so happy and blessed when I was given the Crest of Strength. It was a connection I was able to feel with my mother that I never would have had without it. It kept me going through the toughest of times, because I knew that she was out there with me."_

" _That's beautiful," I said, wiping the tears from my eyes._

" _I can't keep the Crest forever, Louisa," he said sadly. "I felt it the moment a certain someone was born. I felt a deep connection through the crest. It took longer for me to realize it than everyone else, because I thought the connection was just eternal love, which made sense to me, and it's still true too."_

" _Dad, you're rambling," I reminded him helpfully._

" _The point is," Dad said after taking a deep breath. "I knew who the Crest needed to move on to, and I know that it's the right time to pass it on."_

" _But Daddy, what about your connection with Grandma?" I asked, worried for him._

" _I don't need the Crest to feel her anymore," he said. "But maybe you do. Maybe the Crest can help you feel her around you all the time. You're a strong little girl. Not physically, but that's not the point of the Crest anyway. You have inner strength that I know you're just discovering."_

" _But what about that kid that you felt connected to, won't whoever they are come and take it from me?" I asked. "I'm not actually all that strong. They'd be able to take it."_

" _Louisa, you're missing the point._ You _are that baby," he said. "That's why it took so long. I just thought that connection was because you were my daughter. But it was more than that. Now take the Crest, and be good to it. Try to live up to its meaning, and always know that you can come to me if you need help. I wished that I had that choice when I first learned about my mother, but I didn't get to do that. It's not weakness to ask for help."_

" _I promise to live up to the family legacy," I told him._

He'd given it to me in such a touching way with a heartbreaking speech that I couldn't even feel disappointed that I didn't get one of the easier crests—in my opinion—like Desire, or Friendship, or Kindness.

"It's more than just my Crest," Haruki insisted. "But then again, maybe those feelings are why Sora gave the Crest to me in the first place. I can't really separate the two inside me. Not anymore. I've had the Crest for awhile."

"Yeah," I said. I sighed though. "I wish I could help Hopmon digivolve with it though."

"DemiVeemon keeps guilt tripping me about that too," Haruki said with a laugh. He looked over my shoulder and smiled. He reached out and touched my shoulder—I almost died!—and pointed up to the top of the tree. The angel glittered brightly at her perch, and I looked to Haruki and glared. He'd been distracting me. "Sorry," he said, sheepishly. "But I couldn't break her heart. Look how happy she is."

I did as he asked, and saw that Josei was looking so full of happiness that it was pretty much pouring out of her. She was smiling so brightly, looking so proud of herself while she was in Renjiro's arms. I knew then, that Haruki's look to Renjiro was a signal for Renjiro to help Josei put the angel at the top of the tree, and I couldn't find it in me to be angry about it, like I thought I would. Josei was only six, and she was shining so brightly, that I couldn't fault her for taking my job from me.

And also, I was pretty much an adult, and she was just a little kid. It would've been selfish of me to take that opportunity from her, and Christmas was about being _unselfish_.

"That's great, Shouta," Elliot complimented. I was proud of my brother for being so _nice_ for once, but Aika didn't see it that way. She shoved the candles back into Makoto's hands, and stormed over to Elliot and poked him in the chest.

"If that's all you think it will take to make it better, think again," she said, emphasising her words by poking Elliot again and again. Shouta looked embarrassed by the whole thing, and retreated to the kitchen where he could help Tenshi and Kana, who were pretty quiet most days. Aika saw that Shouta was gone and gave a " _I told you so_ " look to Elliot, before storming off to a different room to look for him—completely bypassing the kitchen.

"You're an idiot," Makoto told Elliot. "I was making progress!"

"What did I even do?" Elliot wondered, confused. I was confused too.

"I'm going to see if I can help," I told Haruki, regretting the words as soon as they came out of my mouth. I didn't want to leave him when he was actually willing to talk to me, but I had to make sure Elliot's crush wasn't _too_ angry with him. I was a nice big sister and all...but mostly, I just wanted to see if Aika was okay or not.

"I'll hold down the fort until you get back," Haruki said. I might've died, because he gave me a quick wink. I practically floated out of the room, after Aika. I found her grumbling in the hallway, looking up the stairs trying to decide whether Shouta might've gone up or not.

"He's in the kitchen," I told her.

"Oh," she said. Her shoulders relaxed.

"You know Elliot can be a royal pain in the butt, but he's actually a pretty nice guy. He doesn't compliment people if he doesn't mean it," I said, defending my brother. "Shouta was more embarrassed by the fighting, than anything."

"I don't think Elliot has a single nice bone in his body," Aika said, completely ignoring the fact that Shouta was embarrassed by _her_ instead of Elliot. "I've never seen him do anything for anyone. I know he _can_ be nice, but if he's not mature enough to show it, then it's not even worth it."

"Yeah, I can understand that," I said, allowing her that win. She was right. If Elliot wanted her to treat him seriously, then he needed to be open with her. "Boys can be dumb."

"Don't tell him anything, okay?" Aika asked. I was confused. "I don't want you to feed him the answers. I want him to figure it out by himself."

"Okay," I agreed, though I felt like she'd foiled my plans. I wanted to have a serious heart-to-heart with my brother, and now I couldn't. But I gave her my word, so I wasn't going back on it. Part of inner strength is sticking with decisions that I knew were right, and a promise totally counted. Aika wandered off towards the kitchen, and I peeked through the doorway to see Haruki was now helping Josei put Christmas balls on the tree. They were so cute. _He_ was so sweet, helping her when he had so much school work he could be doing instead—Mai was trying to be secretive while she worked on a project, but I could see her pad and paper on her lap, and she wasn't even pretending to be working on the candles anymore.

It almost felt like Haruki was giving his all to this Christmas celebration _just_ because it was important to me. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

 _ **Osamu Ichijouji:**_

I was glad to escape the hustle and bustle of the Yagami house. There were too many people and so many voices; it was just so much easier to think outside. Emiko had brought all the kids inside, and they were much happier than when they'd left. Hiro and Nikko weren't trying to hurt each other anymore, and Madlyn was so tired that she didn't have the energy to be her usual wild self. They were all dripping snow everywhere, leaving puddles in their wake, and it was irritating Louisa. Haruki was keeping her from blowing her top, but even _he_ didn't have enough magic to keep her calm forever.

Obviously, I feared the fallout. Mai wasn't thinking very straight, and she wasn't eyeing the upcoming explosion with her usual vigor, so I suggested maybe we could go and get Aika's present, since I needed it for the next day. I had really waited until the last minute, which wasn't a good idea, because it was just stressing me out more. But I couldn't help it. It was so hard to think of something that Aika might like, because I didn't _know_ her anymore.

We'd been good friends, once upon a time, before she'd made that dreadful ultimatum and then made assumptions before we'd had a chance to do anything about it. Somehow, Makoto, Elliot, Hiro and I got sucked into the feud that was happening between Nikko and Aika, and our silence—after she'd nearly bashed Nikko's head in with her phone—was all it took for her to walk away, thinking that we were the ones that were abandoning her.

I couldn't understand her logic. I also couldn't understand _her_. What was I supposed to get for her, when the Secret Santa was meant to be something special? I didn't know her secret desires anymore, I didn't know what she liked to do with her spare time. I didn't even know if she had any clubs that she attended. She had avoided us all, and because she was the one that walked out on us, we hadn't exactly done anything to remedy the situation—well, until recently.

Elliot's crush made him determined to get over that rift, and Makoto was doing all he could to mend the gap in our friendship that time had pulled further and further apart. I didn't know how I could help. It wasn't like I was willing to get up there and just _do_ something. I wasn't capable of that, no matter _what_ Mari had told me.

" _Tenacity is hard," she said. "And I spent years resenting the fact that the Crest was given to me. I didn't think I deserved it, and I didn't think it made any sense at all. There are so many layers to it, Osamu. It's really confusing some days, but once I got it, once I understood, I realized that it wasn't so bad."_

" _Okay," I said, not understanding where this was going. She'd just called me away from my friends and I came, because I didn't want to make her mad. I only really knew her because she was my mom's friend, and had been since they were little kids._

" _It's not just being fierce and protecting yourself," she said. "It's more than that. It's the counterpart to Honour, and while Honour is doing the right thing for the situation, and for others, Tenacity is more personal. You need to do the right thing for you, but you also have to understand Honour at the same time, and work with it."_

" _That's two Crests," I said. "Why would you need to know two?"_

" _Because Tenacity is complicated, like I said," she told me with a sigh. "And it's not just me that needs to know two Crests. You're the new owner of Tenacity, congratulations or whatever. I just hope it's easier for you. Telling you to be aware of Honour is actually pretty decent of me, since it was what caused me the most trouble."_

" _Wait, what?"_

She'd given me the Crest, and told me to do what was right for me, while taking into account what was right for others. What did that mean? I still wasn't sure. I talked to Mom extensively once, so that I could try to understand her Crest, but she didn't really help me at all. It was unfortunate, but I couldn't do anything about it.

"Do you have any ideas at all?" Mai asked. I shook my head. She sighed. "Of course not."

"What do you mean?" I wanted to know, feeling defensive.

"I mean, that you wouldn't tell me if you had an idea even if you _did_ , so there was no point in asking," she said, rolling her eyes. "I know you, Osamu. I understand how you work. Sometimes, I just hope that you'll figure out what you want and actually _go_ for it, that's all."

"Sometimes I know what I want," I said, and it was true. I had a lot of opinions and ideas, I just didn't share them in case there was a conflict of interest. I was all about keeping the peace—which in reality was what the Crests were all about, so I was already way ahead of everyone else on that front...kind of—and opinions were tricky things. Not everyone was always on the same page. Several times in the last month alone I was on a different page than all of my friends—including, but not limited to that time we went back in time and were nearly killed by ancient prison guards, the fact that we never allow for time with homework after school and choose to hang out as long as possible instead, that time I'd accepted a hug from Emiko because I didn't want to hurt her feelings and walked around with a paper sign that saidKICK ME on my back and my friends didn't bother telling me. There were a lot of things I had strong opinions on, but for the sake of everyone else, I kept them to myself.

I was trying to follow Mari's advice and be aware of Honour. I was doing a pretty good job, as far as I was concerned. My Crest had another opinion, but I couldn't argue with that one either.

"Sure you do," Mai said, sounding like she didn't believe me. I didn't really like the way that my sister viewed me. I _wasn't_ indecisive, I was just pacifistic. There was a difference. "Now, tell me about Aika. What do you know about her?"

"She and Nikko used to date, and there was a bad breakup, because Nikko didn't realize that she had feelings or something," I said, sounding as confused as she looked. "I just know it was messy and we were all caught in the middle of it."

"Okay," Mai said, thinking hard. "Well, clothes aren't an option. Her mother designs clothes for a living, that wouldn't be interesting to her. Music might be out for similar reasoning. Why did they break up? Do you know that?"

"He liked another girl," I said. She winced and frowned. "And then she lost all of her friends when she stormed off, and none of us talk to her anymore, and she doesn't want to be around any of us anymore. I don't know what to do to fix that either."

"Okay, that's harsh," Mai decided. "But you've got to do what you feel is right in order to get anything done with that mess. Don't listen to anyone else's ideas. Do what _you_ think is right."

"Easier said than done," I grumbled.

She was walking around the mall with practiced ease, which I found strange, because we were in America. We were near Elliot's house actually, since we were allowed to visit _that_ part of New York without supervision, so long as we told a responsible adult that we were going. I guess Mai counted as that adult. "Oh no."

"What?" I asked. She turned around and ducked behind a plastic shrub. She peered over the shrub into the store across from us. There was a girl there, and that was it. I wondered if Mai knew this colourful individual. Her hair was purple, and shaved on one side, and she looked fun, even in her drab brown uniform, which I thought was a pretty impressive feat. "Do you know her?"

"Yes," Mai said, squeaking when the girl came over to us, having spotted Mai through the shrubs. She walked over and crossed her arms, tapping her foot.

"I'm Osamu," I offered.

"I'm No One," she said, looking meaningfully to Mai. I found it all to be really confusing. I looked to Mai, hoping she could relieve the tension in the air, but she didn't seem to have any intention of doing it. She just looked at her feet.

"I didn't think you'd be working today," Mai said eventually.

"I'm not supposed to be," the girl admitted. "But my co-worker called in sick, so bye-bye grandma time."

"That must suck," Mai said awkwardly. She looked to me, and I decided there were a lot of other places I could be right then, instead of in the middle of that awkwardness, and so I wandered into the store that the girl worked at. It was a girly store. There were nail polishes and jewellery all over the back walls. There were clothes taking up the majority of the centre of the space. One wall had shoes, another had hair accessories. It was in front of those accessories that I found myself. I picked up a butterfly shaped barrette, and turned it over in my hands. It was just so girly.

But then...wasn't that what they'd been fighting about?

Aika just wanted Nikko to think of her as a girl. It was the reason they started dating in the first place. But then he'd fallen for some other girl, one that was girly and pretty, and he'd dropped her like a hot potato because he'd found a 'real' girl.

I flipped the barrette around again, and smiled to myself. I knew exactly what needed to happen. I had my present for Aika.

 **Featured Evolution Line: Yukai:** Chibomon—DemiVeemon—Gaossmon—Greymon (2010)—Paildramon


	16. Santa Baby

**Y/N:** This was so much fun to write. Makoto gets to grow a bit as a person and I'm so proud of him. He didn't grow _much_ , but then his dad _is_ Koushiro, and he's emotionally stunted even now, so any progress is astounding really. Haruki's just the most mature I think of my characters for this story. He's fun to write, but isn't nearly as 'out there' as say _Chika_. He's nice and relaxing to write.

 **Title: Here Comes Santa Claus**

 **By: YukiraKing**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.**

 **Chapter 16: Santa Baby**

 _ **Makoto Izumi:**_

I was procrastinating, so sue me! I ordered Osamu's present online only two days ago, instead of earlier like Dad was constantly reminding me. He didn't want me to miss the deadline of Christmas. Mom told him that I was a smart kid, and that there was no way that I would forget Osamu's present, since he was my friend and I wouldn't want to disappoint a friend like that.

Obviously Mom was wrong.

It was dangerously close to Christmas day, and I hadn't picked up the present yet. The post office was going to close in like twelve minutes, and I was forced to run through the slushy streets, getting dirty snow all over my pants. I wasn't in a good mood, and it was only made worse by Mom's ever growing faith in me. I was going to disappoint Osamu, and there was nothing I could do about it. Twelve minutes might not be enough time!

But it was. I got there, and there were still eleven minutes to spare. I felt pretty good about my chances at that point. I was going to be alright. I wouldn't be the Grinch that stole Christmas, I'd be the guy that saved it instead. It was awesome.

"Makoto?"

I looked to the people in front of me, trying to keep my hair out of my face and failing, because the snow had made it heavy, and was now starting to melt, ruining whatever semblance of a hairstyle I might've had going on. I finally gave up on trying to shake my hair out of my eyes with a cool sort of nod, and just picked up the damp chunks of hair and moved them from my face. Momoe and Jou Kido were smiling at me, trying not to laugh. I tried to play it off, like I was acting out a comedy or something, but I just wasn't into the scene today, or something, because I just sighed and _almost_ got embarrassed.

This Christmas thing was throwing me off my groove.

"What are you doing out here?" Momoe asked. "It's a snow storm out there."

"I have to get my Secret Santa present," I sighed.

"Could you give this to Renjiro for us?" Jou asked, handing me an oversized manila envelope. I sighed, but I took it, because I couldn't just refuse. That would be rude. I didn't know how I was supposed to handle the pressure, but I figured I'd have to find _some_ way to deal with it. This was Renjiro's future all sealed in one envelope. I held the truth of whether he got into the school of his dreams or not. I would be the one he would subconsciously resent if he didn't get in. I would be his hero if he did.

It was too much pressure all crammed on my—rather impressive—shoulders.

But instead of admitting to my fear, I just forced a smile on my face and looked at my mother's best friend and nodded. "Sure thing, Mr Jou," I said. I mentally rolled my eyes at myself for reverting to my childhood nickname for the guy, but he seemed pleased. He then put his hand on my head and messed up my hair. It was already a mess, but he just made it worse. I wasn't a toddler. I didn't need him to pat me on the head and tell me I'd done a good job.

Even if it did feel kind of nice.

"Next!" the old woman with the blue eye shadow and drawn on eyebrows called. I waved to Jou and Momoe, and stepped up to the counter, giving the woman—who was sadly untalented with make-up if that lip liner was anything to go by—my name and phone number. She smile at me and went into the back to find my package.

"Thank you, Makoto," Jou told me. "Have fun tonight, yeah?"

"Please make sure Emiko doesn't ruin everything," Momoe added, as if I was enough to stop Emiko when she really got in the mood for mischief. I smiled anyway and nodded.

"You guys have fun too," I told them. They smiled and then left, and I was able to fully embrace my misery. I was wet, I was cold, I was almost out of time, and I had to go back to a house full of kids that were hyped up on chocolate, and for what? So Louisa could celebrate a Christmas of happiness and togetherness—completely disregarding the Aika situation. It was hard enough to deal with on a regular day, let alone a crowded one. Aika just didn't seem impressed by my attempts at offering her my friendship. It was pretty rude, in my opinion, since I was doing my best and I genuinely wanted to mend that bridge. I missed having her around. The guys were great, and we had a lot of fun, but it would be better if we were _whole_ again. We hadn't been, since Aika left.

"You got a date, Makoto?"

The voice was feminine, and sounded offensively disbelieving. I knew it was Kaoru without turning to see, but I turned anyway, because I'm a moron. She smirked when I looked to her, and I glared at her and her porcupine hair. She was swaying her feet, sitting on a tall stool, tapping her fingernails against the counter.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

"You've got special plans for the night," she said, looking towards where Jou and Momoe had been. "It's a romantic night, ergo, you have a date."

"First, no one says 'ergo' anymore, second, I could get a date whenever I wanted one, and don't you pretend any differently, and third, it's not a date," I said, feeling contradictory as I said it, but I didn't care. I was procrastinating and I was running out of time, and I'd just noticed that the bad make-up lady wore a fake spray tan, because I could see the residue on her chair and it was gross. I was wet, cold and miserable. I didn't need to deal with _her_ right then. It was just like adding insult to injury.

"Are you babysitting while someone _else_ goes on a date?" she asked in that cooing tone that people use when they talk to babies. It was insulting and uncalled for. I refused to pout and turn away however, because she'd feel like she won, and I couldn't bear the thought.

"I happen to be celebrating Christmas with Americans this year," I said stubbornly. The bad makeup lady came back and handed me a package, and I took it with a smile. I opened it then and there, to make sure it was the right game, and there weren't any mix-ups.

"I'm sorry miss," the woman said to Kaoru, apologetically. "It appears your package isn't here after all. It seems that someone called you by mistake."

"But I need it tonight," Kaoru said, sounding upset instantly.

"I can do nothing. But I must ask that you leave now, as we are closed," the woman said with a fake smile. "I am happy to have served you."

"You didn't serve me at all," Kaoru grumbled, storming outside. I took one last look at the woman's horribly applied makeup—even _I_ could put makeup on better than she could, and I only knew how to apply stage makeup, where bigger was better—and then raced out into the gross weather after Kaoru. I found her sitting on a bench, looking to her knees sadly.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"Didn't you hear? My package got lost in the mail," she said. "This sucks. I needed that game you know. How am I supposed to show up to our date without a present? He told me what he's getting me. He's getting a necklace. A _necklace_. I can't show up empty handed!"

"What game?" I asked. What I really wanted to ask was: _who is he_? But I couldn't do that. That would be weird. Kaoru and I weren't even really friends.

"I don't even know," she sighed. "Super Fighting Zombie Bots or something, I guess. I didn't really pay attention. I just know he's wanted it forever."

"It just came out two weeks ago," I told her. I knew, because I was holding it in my hand. Osamu had been intrigued by it when Elliot was raving about it, and I thought he might like a copy of his own. I was going to be the star of the Super Santa, because the game rocked that much.

But looking at Kaoru's face, it felt like a rock had sunk to the bottom of my stomach, and I sighed.

"This game?" I asked, showing her the cover. Her eyes lit up when she saw it.

"Yeah," she said. "That's the one."

"Take it," I said, making up my mind. I didn't need to be the star this time. I could let Kaoru have the honour. "It's a onetime offer. It's yours."

"I don't understand," she said. "It's yours. You bought it."

"And you need it more than I do," I said. "I'll get Osamu something else. Don't worry about it. Go impress some guy." I could do that for her. She was of the few people that was always willing to give me attention. It was mostly negative, but it was there. That was important to me—at least a little bit."Merry Christmas."

"It will be, thanks to you," she said, smiling as she took the game from me. "I don't know how to repay you."

"Don't," I said with a shrug. "I'm kind of a jerk."

"Not today, you're not," she said. "Merry Christmas." She walked off into the snow so she could meet up with what's his face. And I was left standing in the gross falling snow. I sighed. Somehow, I didn't feel quite as miserable as I had just a little bit ago. I wondered if it was Louisa's 'power of Christmas' or if it had more to do with what Daisuke told me ages ago.

" _Being a big shot is awesome," he said. "Don't let anybody trick you into thinking otherwise. It's just a known fact. But it's not everything. It's fun and all, but it's going to take over your life, and then you'll be left with nothing. Pride gets in the way, you know."_

" _No," I said because I didn't know._

" _Okay, look, sometimes you're going to be the hero, and you're going to get recognized for it," he said. "And by hero, I don't mean a literal hero, sometimes it's just that you're the best at something, or you won and someone else lost. But there are times when you need to step aside and let someone else get the credit, even if you did it. Other times still, you'll share the credit. It's all about humility, man, and I think you'll be great at it someday. That's why I'm going to be giving you my Crest."_

" _Okay..." I said, snorting. That sounded like a horrible idea to me._

" _It feels good, you know, when you share, or give it away. It's not about always being the star, it's about making sure other people are included, and caring about their feelings," he said._

" _Sounds boring," I decided._

" _You'll get it one day, I hope."_

And he was right. I was pretty sure, by letting Kaoru be the star of the night, I was showing some sort of humility. I was giving up the best present ever, and I didn't even feel angry about losing to her. She was going to have a great date, and I was going to get Osamu something else—probably a boat load of candy, because everyone likes candy and it's cheap—and I was going to look like an idiot, but it didn't matter, because of that smile she gave me. It didn't mean I liked the guy that I gave the game to. I didn't know who he was, but I didn't like him anyway.

But her smile made it worth it.

It was a strange feeling, almost like I was growing up. It was really weird, and I made a mental note to stop doing it. But for now, it felt pretty great.

 _ **Haruki Motomiya:**_

I would never complain about having only one brother again. I'd complained a lot in the past, before Yukai was born, about being an only child, and when he was born, I loved having him around. But after spending an afternoon trying to keep a bunch of kids wrangled, and then getting them to eat their vegetables, and getting them to brush their teeth, and comb their hair, and get into their pajamas...I was stressed out, big time. Miyako was a miracle worker, having four kids and not having grey hair yet. That's all I could say.

But they were asleep. Emiko and Azura were asleep, having passed out as soon as Josei did, exhausted after having to bear the brunt of the stress and responsibility of the day. Taro and Yukai wouldn't sleep until we let them move their sleeping bags together, and then they wouldn't sleep because they were too busy talking to each other. They thought that because we couldn't see them, they were invisible or something, but it simply wasn't the case.

The tree was in the middle of the room, and our pillows were surrounding it—and the Secret Santa presents—while our bodies all fanned out. Madlyn was wedged between Emiko and Azura, just to annoy them. Aika was half wrapped around Shouta, and Chika was upside down, putting her feet on her pillow. Nikko had draped an afghan his mother knit over her, and smiled, before tucking himself in next to her, only for Makoto to shove him over and plant himself between his friend and his sister.

It was all very dramatic. In the end, I was pretty sure everyone was beside someone that they liked, and eventually, everyone had fallen into a slumber. I wasn't allowed to, or I definitely would have done so as well. But Louisa had pulled me aside earlier, and I couldn't say no.

" _Haruki," she whispered, looking cautiously towards everyone that was eating dinner. "I need your help later. Can you do it?"_

" _Do what?" I asked, already knowing I was going to say yes no matter what she said, just so I could see her smile._

" _Iris and Madlyn are expecting Santa to get them presents," Louisa told me. "But I don't think Santa can even get into the Digital World. You and I are going to be his elves for the day."_

" _What?" I asked, more confused than before._

" _I asked their parents for ideas, and I bought everyone a present so that Santa's magic will live on," Louisa said. "Can you wait up and help me with them?"_

" _Okay," I said. Being alone with Louisa might be all it took for me to finally speak my mind. I was pretty candid with her earlier, because I'd finally built up the courage to just move passed the past, and start figuring out what I wanted out of life. And I wanted to explore the possibilities that Louisa presented to me. Besides, Mai was right. My reasoning for not dating her was actually stupid._

" _You're the best!" Louisa said cheerfully, going to hug me, before stopping herself. She flushed bright red and wandered off._

So, yeah, I was going to be Santa's elf for the evening. I knew that there was a pile of presents hidden in Taichi and Rei's bedroom, which was why Emiko and Azura were sleeping on the floor with us at all. I was going to be spreading Christmas cheer for all the little kids—even the ones that didn't know who Santa was, like me, because I actually had to look him up to know what it was he was meant to do. I'd seen him around in shops and stuff, but my family was pretty calm about the Christmas deal and we would just spend time together, usually travelling.

When I couldn't bear lying in the dark anymore, without falling asleep, I got up and tiptoed my way into the kitchen. No one woke up, so I figured I was good. There was a gingerbread house all decorated by Kana and Tenshi, and looked picture perfect, and then there was another house, on the counter beside it, that the kids decorated after they'd come in from their snowball fight. It was a mess, but they were quite proud. There were literally twenty dozen sugar cookies all in decorative Christmas bowls, and there were gingerbread cookies—only about a hundred of those—all decorated by the kids, Kana and Tenshi, and they were displayed on two three-tier stands. Louisa had insisted on chocolate covered peanut butter balls, and there was peanut brittle, and almond brittle. There was spice cake, and carrot cake. There were cupcakes decorated to look like Christmas trees.

There were far more treats than we could actually eat, even with our parents and all of the partners around. But it didn't matter. They could be taken home, and eaten later. I could have taken a few then and there, with no one around to tell me not to. But I didn't. I was too tired for more sugar, and just boiled the kettle for some plain tea instead.

I was halfway finished with my tea before Louisa came into the kitchen. She was rubbing her eyes, and her hair was a mess.

"I fell asleep," she said, with a great big yawn. "I'm sorry to keep you waiting."

"Should we get going?" I offered. She nodded, and I abandoned my tea on the counter, before leading her up the stairs. The gifts were all of varying size, but they were all things that we wanted. I was a little intrigued when I saw one with my name, and couldn't help but wonder what my parents thought I would like. Louisa squeaked when she caught sight of her hair in the mirror, but I thought it was cute, and I told her so. "It looks cute."

"You think I look cute?" she asked. Her face flushed, and she shook her head. "I meant my hair, not _me_."

"Funny, I didn't," I said with a smirk, as I took the bulk of the presents out of the room. She squeaked again, and followed after me. We brought the gifts down to the kitchen, so we could read the tags. It became my job to sneak them out to the living room, where I was supposed to put them at each individual's feet—except Chika, since she was upside down. It was after I took the last two—Taro and Shouta's—and was going back to the kitchen that I noticed Louisa was gone. I peeked back in the living room, though I would have noticed if she'd gone out there. She hadn't. I quickly drank my cold tea, and set out to find her.

I did find her too, she was balancing on a chair on top of the dining room table, where our parents would all be eating tomorrow to escape from the bedlam that we kids were bound to induce. Louisa had little place cards all written out fancy, and she looked to be hanging a piece of mistletoe above two specific chairs. I didn't need to look at them to know they were Neo and Evelen's chairs. She shipped Nevelen _hard_ , even though the pair was already married. It was kind of ridiculous, but I found her passion rather endearing.

Her bravery on the other hand, it was out of control.

She was leaning over the edge of her chair, and I was quick to get below her, because I knew what was bound to happen. She tried to hold in her scream, so that she didn't wake the kids, but she still let out a wail. She couldn't help it. She was falling off of the chair. I caught her, before she could fall too far, however, and laughed—not because it was funny, but because I was so relieved that she was okay.

"Sorry," she said, trying to untangle herself from me, and only proceeded to almost fall again. I held her tightly, moving away from the table far enough that I was able to set her on her feet. She flushed, embarrassed, and I smiled at her. We were pretty close—like any closer, and we'd be touching. She was pretty flustered, and I might've been too, but it was a perfect moment, and I wasn't about to waste it.

"Look up," I told her.

"What?" she asked, looking directly up, anxiously, like there was going to be a big spider or something.

"We're under the mistletoe," I whispered.

"No one's going to know," she said. "We don't _have_ to kiss."

"I know," I said simply. But I didn't care. I leaned in and pressed my lips against hers. They were soft and warm, and still. It took her a moment before her brain caught up with the situation, and then she was kissing me back to. It was tentative, it was chaste. But it was a stolen moment between the two of us late on Christmas Eve, one of the most romantic days in all of Japan.

"Does this mean...?" she asked, when we'd pulled apart.

"We can talk about what it means tomorrow," I suggested. "I'd like to savour the moment if I can. And we really need to get to bed."

"I'm going to hold you to that," Louisa said, smiling while flushing, before she wandered back to her sleeping bag. I stared at her bed head the entire way, smiling to myself. As soon as she was out of sight, I did a little victory dance. She was happy, she didn't hate me. She might even say yes if I was to ask her on a date. This Christmas was turning out to be pretty great, even if I _was_ disregarding my homework, and tennis practice just to take part. It was worth it. She was worth it.

I'd figure out what I wanted to do with my future later.

For now, I wanted to live in the present. It seemed like the place to be—especially if Louisa was going to be there too.

 **Featured Evolution Line: Taro:** Leafmon—Minomon—DoKunemon—Snimon—Dinobeemon

 **Taro and Yukai:** Imperialdramon (Fusion)


	17. The Crest of Christmas Past

**U/N:** So because adding "Happily Ever After", "Here Comes the Bride", and "How Cody Met Their Mother" makes 22 chapters, we had an awkward extra chapter in this story so two characters were spread out to accommodate that and for some reason they were both mine? Oh well. So Mai gets a second full chapter, and this is it. I was literally writing it at four o'clock in the morning because I couldn't sleep so it's probably complete garbage xD But I dunno, I like Mai, so there's at least that aspect of it. So here!

 **Title: Here Comes Santa Claus**

 **By: UrazamayKing**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.**

 **Chapter 17: The Crest of Christmas Past**

 _ **Mai Ichijouji:**_

The dreams were swirling around in my head like a wild hurricane of memories and thoughts, and I hated every minute of it. I felt a lump inside my stomach as my guilt began to fester and grow, and all I could think of or see was a giant ball of oppression and angst composed of the worst memories of my entire life and all at once I fell to my knees begging the thoughts to stop, but because I had no control of my mind I could see no end in the nearest depths of the cave I was trapped inside.

I could see my siblings all trapped inside the blur of thoughts and I could see my parents waiting in the wings for their moment to be swept inside as well.

I heard a thud and looked sharply over my shoulder but saw only darkness. When I looked back to the ball of sadness I stared up to the sight of Clio, swirling in the darkness, Poromon in her arms. I heard another thud and turned sharply once more, seeing nothing inside the darkness of the cave. This time I felt eyes watching me, like someone really _was_ there, but I had no proof. I swallowed thickly and looked quickly back toward the messy ball, but found myself screaming as I stared into my own reflection.

I jolted awake, breathing heavily and drenched in a thin layer of cold sweat. My body was rigid and still, wrapped in the puffy deep green sleeping bag that had been offered to me. I couldn't find it in myself to move as I tried to absorb my surroundings. I initially could not discern where I was, because all I knew was that it wasn't my bedroom. I heard breathing all around me and with the sight of the nearby tree, looming in the darkness I found my answer pretty quickly. I was still at the Yagami house, preparing for Christmas.

I slowly pried my arm out from my side and ran my hand through my hair, feeling like I had a ticking bomb inside my head that was bound to explode at any second. Even through my aching headache, all I could really focus on was the total silence that surrounded me but as I waited, looking around to the window that showed how dark it still was, I found myself shivering in the cool breeze that came my way.

Nearby I could see Josei sleeping soundly in a peaceful slumber. She was curled in a ball, but seemed cold still. I grabbed a nearby blanket that seemed to have fallen from where she held it close to her and pulled it up to cover her more thoroughly.

I felt a yawn creeping up on me as I began to rub my eyes in the darkness, but I nearly choked—effectively stiffening the yawn—at the sound of a sudden _thud_ , just like the one from my dream. I rounded on the sound instantly finding myself staring toward the hallway that led to the door. I swallowed thickly and slipped from the sleeping bag. Someone was at the door and I had to let them in—or tell them to go away. I was one of the oldest here, and one look to Emiko and Azura said that they weren't about to wake up any time soon. Haruki was also older than me but he was snoring softly at the other end of the room. I decided to brave it out.

I stepped silently over all of the children and crept toward the door where I poked my head around the corner, into the hallway. I was scared for a moment at what I saw, but it was nothing to worry about. There were no axe murderers, or sociopathic digimon come to seek revenge on Taichi. I would have told him of course that he wasn't home, but who knew what sociopaths would believe these days? But no, there was nothing there aside from the door, but it had swung open in the night and the cool breeze suddenly made a lot more sense. The door swung further open once more and a soft _thud_ sounded as it hit the wall behind where it stood.

I moved swiftly down the hallway to close the door and glanced over my shoulder as I moved because, no matter how normal it was that a door was open, it was still creepy. As I grabbed the door I heard a creak come from up the stairs and I looked sharply toward them, seeing only darkness after the first few steps. As if that wasn't scary enough, the wind began howling and I felt chills run down my spine.

I turned quickly, to close the door, but I stopped as I stared out to the lake just outside the house. Where the pier usually was there was a massive stone slab instead. The stone looked like a giant amulet, but the edges were curved and engraved right in the center—even though part of it was buried under the ice and water I could still tell—was the Crest of purity. _My_ Crest.

I felt my fingers stiffen around the door as I stared, trying to decide if I should examine the stone or simply turn back into the house. When I finally made up my mind, taking one tentative step out into the snow I felt a brief tap on my shoulder.

I screamed. I didn't care who I woke up because I was scared and maybe I needed help, but as I spun quickly around my scream faded away completely. Standing behind me was a little girl wearing a red fringe covered dress. Her boots were clunky and she was wearing gloves that were just too big for her. She had a bag slung over her shoulder, and her hair pulled up mostly, but left two perfect stands to frame her beautiful face with two big brown eyes.

I knew her.

If I was unsure, the giant pink hat sure gave it away. "Hello, Mai," Mimi said to me in her high pitched voice. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

I nodded, "Sure," I agreed, unable to take my eyes away from her massive hat. "What were you thinking when you got dressed this morning?"

Mimi waved my thoughts away and ignored my question, taking my hand and leading me out onto the snowy porch. I was still wearing my pajamas, which I felt a little embarrassed by. The pants were blue with little penguins decorating the fabric, and I was wearing a black Teenage Wolves t-shirt on top. My bare feet sent jolts of discomfort through my whole body as they touched the snow, but Mimi didn't seem to care. She skipped along, toward the stairs of the porch, dragging me behind her. I pulled back sharply, freeing my hand from her. Mimi stopped on the top step and looked back to me, "What are you doing?"

"What are _you_ doing?" I countered.

Mimi looked embarrassed suddenly and giggled, "Oops, I forgot to tell you, didn't I?" I nodded. "I want to show you something really important." She threw her hand out for me to take, but I could only stare for a moment. She seemed so genuine. So _sincere_. I knew I had to take her hand, but a big part of me wanted to go back and hide somewhere, like in the warm sleeping bag. But I didn't. I reached out and took her hand. "Perfect," Mimi smiled as the world around us began to shift.

I felt rather panicked, but the look of total calmness in Mimi's eyes was enough to end my worrying. The world was gone entirely now and I saw only flashes of bright colours, like green and orange and pink, and then all at once the world had stopped at my old school. Mimi and I were standing on the playground, and I knew it well, but it looked _different_ somehow.

I looked to Mimi for answers, but she pointed dead ahead and I followed her gaze to where three girls were running toward us. The middle one was Mimi I knew, and she was wearing a white frilly top and pink pants. Her friends were laughing alongside her, and they came to a stop all at once next to a shy little girl with big glasses. I didn't know who she was, but her dark hair and general persona reminded me of _me_.

"Your glasses make you look boring," one of Mimi's friends said in a whiny voice.

"And reading is for losers," her other friend chimed in.

As one, both girls turned to Mimi, expecting her to join in and she looked like she might just walk away. But she didn't. "Your hair doesn't even compliment your eyes that well." Her voice came out like a strangled whisper, like it pained her to say, but her two friends didn't seem to notice. Both girls laughed and rushed off, leaving Mimi behind. She paused and stared to the girl and then nodded, running off.

"That was sad," I said as I stared to the crying girl.

The Mimi in the big pink hat nodded her head, "You see," she said, "I didn't know that being myself was more important than changing myself to ensure that others liked me."

"Right," I said, agreeing with her. "You needed to learn your Crest."

"Sure did," Mimi nodded, smiling my way. "Let's see how you fared, shall we?" I felt skeptical, afraid of what moment of my life we would see, but when the scene seemed to fast-forward in time and the walls of the school wore out from the sun and a basketball net sprouted from the ground, the crying girl on the playground shifted to _me_ instead. I could obviously tell the difference, though the other girl _had_ looked like me. Mimi gestured toward me and I nodded, looking onward but feeling rather anxious still. I didn't recognize the moment of my life.

But once Osamu showed up, waddling around the corner, I knew I could pinpoint the day. Mother had taken him to school for the first time, signing him up for his first day. This was before we had all transferred to the new schooling system upheld in the Digital World.

"Hey Osamu!" the small version of me shouted out when she caught sight of her brother. He broke out into a massive grin and hurried toward her, excited to see what she had found. It was nothing that would be of use to _him_ of course. She was holding a pencil and a pad of paper. "I have some questions," she said when he came near enough. "What's your favourite colour?"

"I like all colours," Osamu said thoughtfully.

"You have to pick one or it won't work," Mai pointed out.

"But—"

"No 'buts'!" Mai objected sharply. Osamu immediately broke down into tears and his sister—me, of course—was rather kind to him, patting his back thoughtfully and bringing him in for a hug. I relaxed, realizing the scene wasn't exactly as bad as I remembered. "Osamu, you haveta give me your opinions," she said quietly, "it's important because if you don't do it I'll never be able to be the reporter I'm supposed to be!"

"I just have like, lots of opinions!" Osamu said, pulling away from Mai.

"That just won't do," she told him, "Maybe I'll just make your opinions for you then." Osamu nodded his head, willing to play along if it made her happy.

I felt my nose crinkle because it just wasn't a happy memory. It wasn't that I was particularly horrible to him by any means, but that didn't mean I was _good_ to him either. I had been one of the—or possibly the _only_ —reason why he was unable to speak his mind and make his own opinions. My willingness to be myself and always speak my mind, and to find the root of everyone else's minds and thoughts was the leading cause to Osamu's troubles. So where Mimi was unable to be herself, I was the opposite. I was myself so much that I expected everyone else to _also_ be like me, and to _also_ share my exact views and patterns. I had a favourite colour, so obviously Osamu did too.

When I turned to Mimi to ask her what the point of it all was, I found that she had changed completely. Instead of a big pink hat on her head she had wavy locks of pink _hair_. There were little stars amidst the streaks of red and she was wearing possibly the most patriotic American attire I had ever seen. She was like a walking flag. "We're not finished," she told me, reaching out for my hand again.

I hesitated, and she saw that. She seemed upset that I wasn't coming with her. "I don't want to see myself screw up again."

"Then don't come," Mimi said, shrugging her shoulders and turning away from me. "I'll leave you here in the past then, that's fine with me." I rolled my eyes. She wouldn't actually leave me, but I knew her well enough to know that she wanted me to come. I took her hand and the world began shifting again. It wasn't too odd actually since I had been to several of the worlds that made up our nine. Besides, Mimi loved time travelling, so nothing seemed too unorthodox to me yet. At least not to the point where I would have to question anything.

This time the world stopped in a bedroom, and it was one I knew well. It was not my own, but it was one I had visited a few times with a close friend. That friend was sitting on her bed, her blonde and purple hair pulled back into a ponytail. The room was still and quiet and calm, and something about it all told me that it was very present.

Suddenly what was happening made sense to me. "Are you the ghost of Christmas present?" I asked Mimi who was barely paying attention.

At the sound of my voice she looked up sharply and confused, "You got me a present?" she asked, but I ignored her, looking back to Clio who had had Mimi's attention a moment before. Clio was sad. She was sad because of what I had done to her. I felt that same guilt that had been in my dream before build up in my chest and I moved to sit next to her. She could not see me it seemed and she was unable to feel my presence. Perhaps I wasn't here at all.

Laying in her lap was a drawing pad that she had been sketching in, but written in dark letters all over the image were the words 'no one' and I felt like someone had smacked me over the head with a heavy plank of wood. Why would I have said that? I could have told my family that she was my _friend_. She wasn't 'No One'. She was anything _but_ that. She was _everything_. Why did I have to ruin the best thing that had happened to me in a long time because I was too scared to talk about the way that I felt and be _pure_ about the person that I was?

I looked back to Mimi and nearly screamed again. In her place was a tall hooded figure, dressed in a long black robe. There were heavy chains dragging behind her and a ridiculously sized scythe her hand. My heart was beating quickly at the sight and I was already planning an escape, but as the figure turned to me—which nearly made my heart _stop_ —I saw that Mimi was under the hood. She flashed a smile my direction and then pulled the robe aside to see how she had gotten so tall. "I'm on stilts!" she said in her bubbly voice. I felt my face fall to a glare at her words and she nodded forcing a serious expression. She looked older now, nearly an adult, and she reached out her hand to me. I could not see it under the mass of fabric, but when I reached out, the world shifted anyway.

I was in a boring house with boring beige walls and a boring white couch sat, facing the open window overlooking a blank grey wall. I couldn't help but feel that everything was over exaggerated, but as I turned back to the couch I saw a man sitting with a newspaper opened up in front of him. He looked kind, and gentle. He looked like a good man. He was wearing a cardigan and everything.

Then, from the kitchen I heard a sound. _Clink_. Like porcelain. Then, a moment later, a woman came into the room holding two cups of tea. The woman was _me_. She sat next to the man and handed him one cup and kept the other for herself. The man thanked her, smiling upward and leaning over to kiss whatever part of her he could reach. The girl—me—was the most interesting part of the room and she sat on the arm of the couch so his kiss met her let and she looked down to him in discontent. She was unhappy.

 _I_ was unhappy.

It was a perfectly good life, but it was not the life I wanted for myself.

"Now Mai," Mimi said to me. "I've told you before." I turned to her then, seeing that she was the Mimi _I_ knew, and she was no longer wearing her ridiculous attire. "I love you, and I care for you. I don't care who or what you love. I want you to be comfortable with the person who you are and I know your friends and family feel the same."

"I know," I said in a weak voice.

"Then _what_ are you waiting for?" Mimi asked in shock, "Don't wait around for this life that you don't want—don't let everything good pass you by! You have to seize the opportunity while you still have it. You can't let yourself be insincere just because you're scared of what people think. If they don't love the confident, intelligent, and sometimes bossy girl that you are, then they can back away like the haters that they are. Who cares who you love—that's not who you are, but it _is_ a part of you. Don't mess around with it just because you're afraid. Be _you_ Mai."

"You're right," I agreed, nodding fervently.

"And now what?" Mimi asked.

"I have to talk to Clio!" I shouted.

The last thing I saw was a smile forming on Mimi's face, and then all at once I was flying out of my sleeping bag, all the way back in Taichi's living room. I gasped out and felt the familiar sensation of waking form a dream. It had _all_ been a dream. As I sat in the light of the rising sun I realized that it made much more sense to be a dream now, _after_ I'd woken up. But it didn't matter. Dream, or not, I needed to get to Clio.

I moved quickly, grabbing by bag that I had kept at my side and I quickly found Taichi's office, using his computer to bring me into Clio's house. I didn't even hesitate to begin making my way up the stairs, because I knew it would be okay. Her parents liked me, and hopefully Clio still did too. I was still hoping to not be seen until I knew what I was going to say, but ultimately it didn't matter.

I just had to apologize.

I slipped into her bedroom—and it was _then_ that I realized I was still wearing my foolish pajamas and that I had no idea what I looked like, or what I wanted to say. I also realized that I definitely had no way of knowing if this was _okay_. Just because her parents liked me didn't mean they would be okay with me breaking into their house...

Nervously I moved toward Clio's bed where she was sleeping and I fell to my knees. I was trying to plan what to say, but as I watched her breathing peacefully I realized that there was nothing I _could_ say that would make it right. I had hurt her because I was stupid and I didn't think it was fair for me to be here right now. I didn't feel comfortable having hurt her. I would never do it intentionally. I would _never_ do it again. It felt like a blow to myself just thinking that she _might_ still be affected by what I had said.

I reached into my bag to grab the present I had made for her and decided I was going to lay it on her bed and take my leave, but as I turned back I found that her eyes had popped open.

For the billionth time—I swear—I had to stop myself from screaming, but Clio seemed more confused than startled. She rubbed her eyes with the backs of her hands and sat up, looking around like the world was lost to her. She was never a morning person, and she had probably _just_ gotten to sleep here because of the time difference.

"Clio," I said in a quiet voice, catching her attention. She looked to me and nodded, but still seemed confused. I held up my gift and she looked to it, confused. "I just... I don't know what to say." I told her, feeling tears in my eyes. "You're right that this is a romantic holiday for my culture. That means I should be spending it with you, not my friends. I know you're probably spending it with your family anyway, but I had to see you. I-I made this for you," I shoved the little book closer to her, "It's nothing really. It's just a story about our relationship, and it's made with my words and your drawings—sorry th-they're only photocopies because I wanted to keep the real ones you gave me. I-I'm sorry for hurting you. You don't deserve someone like me hurting you. I think that's what I _do_ though. I hurt other people and maybe I don't even notice, but I'm sorry. I _did_ notice this time."

Clio stared to me, her eyes blinking madly like she was still trying to make sense of the situation but she finally took the book to look at it.

"You don't deserve to be treated the way I treated you," I told her in a weak voice, "you don't deserve to be treated like a secret—like a 'No One'. You're not no one. You're _Clio_. You're the one that I love. You're the one that I love and I want you to know that. I _love_ you, and I'm not ashamed of that. I'm not ashamed of me or you or the way that we feel."

Once more, Clio was silent, but her eyes were watering as she flipped through some of the pages of the book. Finally she looked up to me, and her lip was quivering. I didn't know what to think anymore.

"Well," I said, "I-I guess that's all I had to say. I'll let you get back to sleep—"

As I stood to leave, Clio took my hand and pulled me back toward her. I fell into her bed where she wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me, surprising me entirely. I felt my face turn red and a smile formed on both of our faces. When she pulled away I couldn't help but laugh. "I love you too," Clio said in a breathy voice.

Relief seemed to pull all of that guilt and desperation right out of my system as I stared to her beautiful and wonderful eyes. I took a deep breath, savouring the moment. Then I said, "So, what now?"

 **Featured Evolution Line: Josei:** Pururumon—Pinamon—Muchomon—Diatrymon—Parrotmon—Ornismon


	18. Christmas Wrapping

**Y/N:** This is the last time I write Nikko. He's reached the end of his arc, and while I think he's got a long way to go, he might have made a nice step forward. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

 **U/N:** This is the only chapter in this whole story we actually collaborated on, so that's weird, I guess. I wrote Renjiro again and honestly I love his little group of friends a lot, so I liked this. Tenshi, Louisa, Kana and Renjiro are all just like... better people than the group that follows them in age. It's also my last time ever writing for Renjiro. That might be sad if he had more than two parts :P

 **Title: Here Comes Santa Claus**

 **By: Urazamay and YukiraKing**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.**

 **Chapter 18: Christmas Wrapping**

 _ **Renjiro Kido:**_

All at once there was a deafening scream.

I couldn't help but fling into immediate action, sitting upright in a moment, my eyes darting around the unfamiliar surroundings. The sun had just risen in the sky and the dimmed early light was being cast through the windows over the tall elaborate tree that Louisa had composed. Under that tree, shielded by the needles and ornaments that cluttered the branches, were presents. Each was wrapped in a unique paper, with fancy bows or ribbons tied around the outside to make them just that much more special.

I could see nothing more though, because my eyes were still fuzzy from sleep, and I had yet to put my glasses on my face. As I reached for them I felt someone push past me, still screaming and saw a tiny form of a girl with lilac hair. Josei. Of course she was excited.

Before I had even finished putting my glasses on my face Madlyn, Yukai and Izumi had joined her, with Izumi standing behind them rather dramatically with her arms crossed, but even _she_ was looking rather excitedly from present to present, desperately searching for the one with her name on it. I had seen enough Christmas movies to know that having one present wasn't the typical American tradition, but I almost liked it more this way. I didn't want too many things, and I knew it wouldn't be right to spoil the younger kids and besides, there were so many of us, it would be almost impossible to fit even just _two_ presents for each of us under that tree.

Keeping true to the American Christmas we promised Louisa to experience—and I had no problem with this because learning about new cultures was never a bad idea—I had purchased several presents myself. One for each of my parents, and Emiko, as well as their digimon, Bukamon of course, Kana, Louisa and Tenshi each got one too, and I even got a little treat for each of _their_ digimon, and obviously Makoto got one too because of the Secret Santa game Louisa had set up. As I looked to the children, wildly tossing presents aside, half heartedly aiming them to whomever's name was written on the tag, I wondered how many of them had actually kept the secret of who they had drawn. Kana knew that I had Makoto, and I knew she had Louisa. It didn't take a genius to figure out who Tenshi and Louisa had drawn.

" _I'm having a bit of trouble," Tenshi admitted shyly, "I don't know much about who I've drawn."_

He knew a lot about everyone because he was the only person I knew that would listen to anyone talk about anything. He obviously had Ryou, the only person in the draw that Tenshi never got a chance to speak to. Louisa was even more obvious.

" _Okay, I'll give you a hint," Louisa groaned, "the person I have is_ absolutely _insane, but it isn't Chika. And don't ask for any more clues, I won't give them."_

" _No one asked though," Kana pointed out._

She had Madlyn, and calling her insane was kind of an understatement. Even now she was shrieking with joy and excitement as she led the rampaging children. Taro had joined them now with Iris standing off to the side. Shouta was nearby too, but he was far too shy to ever join in the hunt. Eventually his present would come to him, just like the rest of us.

The presents themselves had drawn my attention though. These were not the Secret Santa presents, I knew because Yukai called out to Makoto and chucked a gift his way and I knew very well that his present was wrapped up and concealed in my suitcase upstairs. Who had these presents come from?

I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Tenshi with a big smile on his face. His hair was a mess and he looked like he too had just woken up, but he was holding a blue box with a green ribbon on the top and offering it to me. I took it and adjusted myself so I was sitting properly. "That's yours," Tenshi told me, pulling out a pink one and looking to someone in the distance. I turned my head to see Louisa dragging Kana across the floor.

Both of them fell to the floor next to me and Tenshi did the same, handing both Kana and Louisa their gifts. Louisa's eyes widened with hunger and desperation as she stared to the gift, but Kana's attention was on Tenshi. "Where is yours?"

"Oh, these are from me," Tenshi said with a nervous smile. Kana gasped in a rather surprised way, but Louisa tilted her head and let out a rather loud 'awww' to show how cute she thought it was that Tenshi had gotten us all gifts. I made a mental note to not give her a present until later, when enough excitement had run its course, straight out of her system. "It's not much," Tenshi admitted, "but open them. I think you'll like them."

The three of us looked to each other and nodded pulling the top off of the small boxes and looking inside. It was a necklace. A small gold piece tied to the end of a thick black cord. "Tenshi," Louisa cooed, pulling hers out of the box. I saw that there was a little design engraved on hers, so I flipped mine over and saw half of a medical staff, with serpents surrounding it. I turned to Kana and she reacted instantly, putting hers together with mine to finish the staff. "Oooh!" Louisa shouted out, lunging forward to join in. She placed hers under Kana's and I saw that hers had an image of a heart. Tenshi reached into his pocket and pulled his own out, to finish the circle.

"The images don't match," he admitted, "but they fit together right. We're all kind of different too, so that's why I thought it was such a good match."

My eyes fell to the image on Tenshi's piece and apparently that was where Kana's mind went too. "Photography?" Tenshi nodded, embarrassed. There was a tiny engraved camera on the end of his necklace and I felt a giddy feeling bubble up inside me before it spread on my face. There was something about Tenshi picking the camera over a cello that made the morning just feel that much better. "What about the cello?" Kana wondered.

Tenshi looked sad for a moment, then he finally said, "I'm still going to play, and I'm going to my final audition. I just don't want to be known as that boy who plays cello. That's not the person I want to be. I want to go take pictures of animals in the wild, or something. I don't know."

"How are you going to do your audition without a cello?" Louisa wondered.

"You still haven't found it?" Kana gasped. Tenshi shook his head. "It'll turn up, I'm sure it will."

"The audition is in two days," Tenshi said, looking rather nervous again. "I won't get in _anyway_. I haven't practiced in days. I'm just really nervous."

"I'm nervous too," I blurted out, hoping to distract him for just a moment from his own nerves. I didn't know why I was going to open up about this now, but it seemed right somehow. "I... I've pretty much given up on getting into that school. That's okay though. I don't mind, because there are other schools. I can live with that, and..." my mind was elsewhere as I stared to Makoto. He was looking to me—and listening to my words—like he had been caught in the headlights of oncoming traffic. He blinked twice and then slipped away, leaving Aika alone with his sister.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and when I turned I saw Izumi, handing me a hastily wrapped book. I knew it was a book just by looking at it. "This is yours, it's from Santa." Izumi looked over her shoulder to Iris who was glaring to Taro, and to Yukai who was holding Madlyn's toy up above her head. She swallowed thickly and then set off in the opposite direction. Had I just witnessed Izumi feel _bad_ for the mess she had been causing?

A hand wrapped itself in with mine and I was pulled way before I even had a chance to open my present. I stumbled to my feet, nearly tripping over my sleeping bag and looked up as Kana dragged me after Louisa and Tenshi. Louisa had her 'I have to tell you something' look on her face so I knew it was important to her. Eventually, when we had found safety in the kitchen, she turned to us all with a smile.

"So," she said with a smile that was threatening to burst. "I'm Santa."

"I know," Kana rolled her eyes. Louisa glared at her though.

"Shh!" she insisted, "Guess who was Mr Santa?"

"Santa _is_ a boy though," I said, confused.

"Can you guys just guess?" Louisa asked, annoyed.

"Hmm," Tenshi said, pretending to think hard, "Could it be... Haru—no... hmm... It was Osamu, wasn't it?"

Louisa turned her glare to Tenshi but it fell quickly. No one could glare at him, he was the nicest person on the face of the planet. Unrivaled. "It _was_ Haruki," Louisa said, swaying on the spot. Her cheeks turned pink and she bit her lip, but she didn't seem like she was going to stop talking any time soon. "He said we should talk." Kana and I exchanged a look. That didn't sound _good_ necessarily.

"Is that good?" Tenshi wanted to know.

"Well he kissed me, so..." Louisa said, and Kana gasped—again—and Louisa squealed with excitement, taking Kana's hands spinning in a circle before latching herself to Tenshi to jump up and down excitedly. He simply looked startled to the bumbling jellybean of a friend that she was. "It basically means we're in love or something," Louisa declared, releasing Tenshi and walking across the room, "Of course we'll have to invite everyone."

"W-where?" I turned to the sound of the voice and saw Haruki in the doorway to the kitchen looking rather tired, but Louisa wasn't paying attention as she spun in place.

"To our _wedding_!" she declared loudly, but finally she caught sight of Haruki whose entire face turned bright red and he turned from the room immediately. "Oh—oops! I was kidding!" she shouted, chasing after him.

Tenshi, Kana and I looked to each other and shrugged. It felt like a moment to laugh, but we couldn't. We were all obviously pleased for Louisa, but Kana was stressed because _I_ was stressed because I couldn't get into school, and Tenshi couldn't either if he couldn't play his cello that apparently ceased to exist at all... Well, from where I stood, the Christmas could have been better, but so far it wasn't the _worst_ day ever.

 _ **Nikko Yagami:**_

Everything was chaotic. I'd already opened up a bunch of presents from my friends and it was mostly candy. I loved candy, so that was alright. I didn't need anything special anyway. We didn't usually exchange gifts at this time of year, so this was just a bunch of free candy to me, and it was awesome.

Josei was wearing the bows off of all the presents. They were sticking to her lilac hair, and getting all tangled up. Osamu was wincing at the sight of it, knowing that it would be up to him to fix it. Mai had disappeared at some point, and so he couldn't pass the job off on her. She was clutching a doll and grinning because the doll had a pink dress on, just like her nightgown.

Iris was sitting on the couch, glaring at Taro, who was also seated there, both of them were holding puzzle boxes, and both of them wanted to be putting their puzzle together on the coffee table, but they didn't want to share, because _that_ would be too simple. Yukai was holding a box of jacks and Madlyn had marbles. She was throwing them at him one by one, and he kept turning around to see who it was, but she kept hiding behind the back of the couch just before he could see her. Izumi wasn't anywhere near them, though I would have expected her to be. She was over by the kitchen door, talking with Azura who was trying to figure out what to do for breakfast.

Tenshi, Renjiro and Kana all came back from another room, each wearing some sort of friendship necklace which was kind of lame really, but they all seemed happy, so I wasn't going to judge them. Louisa was following after Haruki, who was red in the face. I didn't think I wanted to touch _that_ with a ten foot pole. Shouta and Aika were sitting together, exchanging gifts of their own. Aika got Shouta a journal so he could write his thoughts down and he got her some sort of board game. She looked at it and tried to smile, but I could see it was a game you needed at least four teams to play. Maybe Shouta wanted to play with their parents and partners, but it would be hard for her to play on a regular day, since she really only had Chika, Yokomon and Motimon to play with...

Makoto, Hiro and Elliot were lounging on a pile of sleeping bags while Osamu sat beside them, watching his younger sister. They already had their candy open and were eating as much of it as possible before Azura caught sight of them and made them stop—since Emiko wasn't about to do it. She would've been a hypocrite, since she was stuffing her own face with sugary treats.

Chika though, she was opening her first present still, peeling the tape off as carefully as she could so that she didn't rip the paper. She was talking to herself, trying to psych herself up for the task at hand. There was a pile of four or five presents, but she wasn't paying them any attention, fully dedicating herself to the one in her lap from Santa. Santa had gotten me a wrist watch, which I was sure was just a ploy to make sure I got home on time after school instead of dawdling around.

I was admiring her dedication and trying to guess what Santa had brought for her when Osamu dropped himself down in front of me. I glared at him, trying to watch Chika around him, but he wouldn't let me. I sighed, wondering what had gotten into him. He wasn't usually so forceful, and he never wanted any attention, so this was really strange.

"Here," Osamu told me. He shoved a sparkling butterfly barrette in my face. I took it from him and looked down at him.

"I don't know, do you think it matches my eyes?" I asked, feeling ridiculous.

"It's not for you, jerk," he said. "It's for Aika. I'm her Secret Santa."

"Then why are you giving it to _me_?" I wondered.

"Because I had a revelation in an American mall, and I've decided to start speaking up and sharing my thoughts when I think they're needed, and this is exactly where they're needed," Osamu told me. "You're going to give this to her, and you're going to talk so that we can all be friends again."

"I am?" I asked, wanting to cross my arms and huff. I didn't want to be the one that offered the olive branch. It wasn't fair. Yes, I hurt her, but she was the one that walked away—after trying to decapitate me with a phone! She wasn't the only one hurt in that scenario, and I didn't want to have to be the bigger person. But I made the mistake of glancing back to her and her board game, where she was talking with Shouta, and trying to make him feel better since she wasn't able to be as enthusiastic as she wanted to be.

"Yes," Osamu said more firmly than I'd ever heard him before. He'd never been forceful, but I knew he wasn't going to take no for an answer. I supposed he'd finally learned what his crest was. Keeping that in mind, I tried to channel my own, since I was going to need it.

"Fine," I said, taking the clip as I got to my feet. "But don't cry to me when she throws this thing in my face." I was pretty sure she _would_ throw it too. But I needed to have hope. Uncle Takeru told me so.

" _Have hope, kiddo," Takeru said, settling in beside me on a blanket spread out on the grass. We were supposed to be watching a meteor shower, but the clouds were covering everything and it was so boring. I had been so excited about getting to stay up super late to watch the sky light up, but it just didn't seem to be happening. Aunt Hikari had already fallen asleep with Hiro, and Tenshi was looking to follow soon. Koromon was snoring up a storm, which was probably the only thing that was keeping me awake at all._

" _What hope is there to have?" I asked him._

" _There's always hope," he assured me. "Even in the darkest of times. You just have to look for it. See?"_

" _What?" I asked._

" _There," he told me, pointing up to the sky. The clouds parted and the sky was filled with falling stars. I gasped and Tenshi was quick to snap a few photos with his beginner camera. "See buddy. You just need to have hope, and good things can happen. But you've got to keep your hope alive."_

Keeping that miraculous cloud movement in mind, I marched forward towards Aika and tried to focus all of my positive energy into that one little hair clip. Aika looked up to me. She glared when she realized who it was. I sighed, and took a deep breath.

"This is for you."

"Is it really?" she asked, rolling her eyes. "I saw Osamu give it to you."

"I didn't say it was from me. He was your Secret Santa," I said. "He picked this. I guess he was always better at remembering things. I'm sorry, you know, for forgetting sometimes that you're a girl."

"That wasn't the main problem," she said, looking down at the clip with a sort of glint in her eye.

"I'm sorry for forgetting that you had feelings," I added, even though I knew that she never had feelings _for_ me, just as I'd never had feelings for her. We were a relationship of friends. I figured I'd have an easier time remembering she was a girl if she was my girlfriend, and she liked that title, since it said _girl_ right in it.

"I guess I'm kind of sorry too," she said. "Just for the phone thing though."

"That was terrifying," I pointed out.

"Well, you deserved it," she said with a sigh.

"Everyone misses having you around," I told her.

" _Everyone_?" she asked, looking at me skeptically.

"Yeah," I said. "I guess I kind of miss having you around too. You were one of our best friends for _years_ , it's always been kind of weird not having you around."

"It's always been weird not _being_ around," she said. "I can't forget what you did."

"I don't expect you to," I told her honestly. "Just maybe, if it was to happen again, you could remind me instead of freaking out and throwing things and everything."

"I could probably do that," she said stubbornly looking away. "Maybe."

She was quiet for a little, just playing with the barrette. She bit her lip and then for the first time in a really long time I saw the tiniest bit of a smile pulling at her lips. I smiled at the sight of it, which prompted her to let go of her hesitation. I reached my hand out and she took it without delay and I pulled her to her feet. I pulled her over to _our_ friends and flopped down on top of the sleeping bags. Elliot had gone (he was busy with his cousins), but that didn't matter. It was symbolic, not everyone needed to _be_ here.

"You guys remember our friend Aika, right?" I asked, sounding pretty smug, but I felt that way. I felt pretty great to have offered the olive branch, even though I hadn't wanted to. I supposed Uncle Takeru was right, there was always hope, even when girls freak out and throw phones at you and declare that they won't ever be your friend again.

"You guys go over all that?" Makoto asked. Aika nodded once. His face lit up. "Great, then you'll be the director for my play. We're going to be rehearsing every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. I would've had it _every_ night, but I've been told that would make me a slave driver, and I just can't have that."

"Whatever," Aika said, awkwardly. Makoto didn't seem to care, he was just pretty happy that she was around. Aika smiled to Osamu and showed him the clip. His returning smile was very bright. Hiro just gave her two thumbs up and got back to eating candy. They were cousins, so they'd never been fighting _too_ badly. "Hey, Nikko, this is for you."

She threw a small package to me, and I had to rip open like an entire roll of tape just to get to the present inside—which I assumed she'd wrapped when she still hated my guts, but it was still annoying—and found a tiny keychain with a soccer ball on it. There was a little key attached and I looked to her, shocked.

"I figured you'd want to open it eventually," she said, embarrassed. It was the key to the time capsule we'd put in my basement. She had the key, so that I wouldn't be tempted to open it. We were meant to open it on my birthday _last_ year, but since we weren't friends, we'd never gotten the chance. We all had stuff hidden in there, but I couldn't even begin to remember what it was.

"Wanna go right now?" I asked.

"Better wait for Elliot though, yeah?" Makoto asked, looking around for him.

"We'll do it later, when all the little kids are going crazy from the sugar and our parents are here to look after them," Aika decided, while she put the barrette into her hair. "How's it look?"

"Perfect," I told her, but we both knew we weren't talking about a simple clip. We were talking about our friendship, and how it made us both so much happier than being miserable together all the time.

 **Featured Evolution Line: Iris:** Popomon—Budmon—Sistermon Blanc—Sistermon Awakened—Sanzomon—ClavisAngemon


	19. Christmas Kisses

**Y/N:** Yay for happy endings. This is the last chapter in this entire story that I wrote any part for. I wrote all of it actually. I really like Chika, and I find her to be adorable. Kana is _less_ adorable, but she's still nice to write, since everything she deals with is tame, compared to 08. I hope you like the way that these characters wrap up their stories, and I hope you enjoy the last three chapters too. I liked reading them myself-and only partly because I didn't have to write the end of a story for once!

 **Title: Here Comes Santa Claus**

 **By: YukiraKing**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.**

 **Chapter 19: Christmas Kisses**

 _ **Kana Hida:**_

Louisa, Tenshi, Renjiro and I were all sitting together, talking about Louisa's big news. She and Haruki were probably dating—though he seemed to be hiding from her after her marriage comment—and she was telling us every detail about their big first kiss. No one was nearly as interested in the details as she seemed to think we should be. I sort of tuned her out, honestly, because I was lost in my own head.

Josei came over and was adorable as she gave me a large box. She waited with baited breath as I opened it and pulled out...a doll dressed in a frilly pink dress. She was so happy with her choice that I couldn't help but smile with her. The book that was in the box would be of more use to me, but she was so proud of herself.

"You'll have to come and visit me a lot, so you can play with her," I told Josei. She beamed and nodded excitedly. I offered her the doll then, and she took it, skipping off happily to play with the gift she'd given me. I smiled at the sight.

"I'm exhausted," Elliot groaned, flopping down beside Lousia—well, he was half _on_ her. She grimaced and pushed him away with her hand in his face. He licked her hand and she squealed out with disgust. He laughed and sighed. "Kids should be banned."

"You've been watching Madlyn, haven't you," Louisa realized with a snicker.

"Don't laugh," he said. "You get the next shift."

"Hello, Haruki," Tenshi said pleasantly. Louisa pretty much shoved Elliot off of the couch, freeing up space for Haruki, if he wanted to sit down. He didn't. He was holding a box with a bow on it. Louisa nearly died of happiness...only for Haruki to hand it down to Elliot on the floor.

"Thanks," Elliot said with a grin. Louisa nearly cried. Haruki smiled at her tentatively, but caught sight of his brother trying to do a handstand by the tree, and raced off to stop him. Louisa sighed sadly, and I figured now would be a good time to perk her up. I handed her the Secret Santa gift I'd gotten for her, and she opened it in two seconds flat, ripping the paper hastily. She pulled out the scrapbook and looked from page to page and started bawling.

"This is so nice!" Louisa cried. "I bet the kids at school didn't get anything this nice."

"You like it?" I asked hesitantly.

"No," she corrected. "I _love_ it. It's our friendship told in pictures, and friendship is magic."

"You're weird," Elliot declared, walking off with his unopened gift—probably so he could open it in front of his friends, rather than his sobbing sister.

Christmas was far crazier than I was expecting it to be. I was now the proud wearer of a friendship necklace from Tenshi. It was beautiful, and it was so sweet. Mine matched perfectly with Renjiro's, which made my heart kind of flutter, and Tenshi and Louisa's were so different, but they fit with ours too. It was good to know that I would be taking a piece of them with me when I went off to school. I wouldn't be going to the same school as Haruki and Mai were. I wouldn't be living at home while I attended to my post-secondary education. I would be in Tokyo, and they wouldn't be. I'd have to leave them behind.

Renjiro might've ended up being left with them.

My heart was torn and I couldn't decide which path to follow. I loved Renjiro, but did that love override all of my dreams and plans. I knew, logically, that my future school wouldn't actually set me for life. There were other schools that could benefit me on my quest to become a dentist. But I _wanted_ to go to this school. I'd wanted it for years and it was being dangled in front of me, while Renjiro was calling me backwards.

I shouldn't have been trying to figure out my entire future when we were meant to be having fun and celebrating Louisa's favourite holiday. But I couldn't put my whole heart into it—not while my mind was so clouded.

What should I do?

I wanted Renjiro to be happy, but I didn't want to sacrifice my goals to achieve it. But the way he was wearing a near permanent frown and the way his shoulders sagged made my happiness half as potent. I wasn't going to enjoy myself while getting my education if I knew that the administrations offices had turned away my future partner in dentistry. I wondered for a brief second if having two schools educating us would provide us with a larger supply of knowledge and a better understanding of dentistry, but realized it wouldn't matter if I was too unhappy to learn anything.

Searching my soul for answers was definitely far too heavy for a day of joy, but I needed to know. The next year would be starting soon, and I would begin attending the university of my choice in April. That wasn't much time to properly think my decision over.

But I needed to have Renjiro with me. We'd done everything together since we were born practically. Our dads were best friends, and it was only natural with how much time they spent together that Renjiro and I would become best friends too—and eventually something _more_. We'd even gotten our Crests at the same time! We hadn't done anything important without the other one right by our side.

" _Kana," Koushiro said to me while I sat down on a couch cushion, directly beside Renjiro. Hideto was crouched down in front of him, while Koushiro chose to stand in front of me. "I've known since you were born that there was something special about you."_

" _Like what?" I asked, inquisitively._

" _You have the spark of Knowledge in you, the same spark that made Gennai chose me to be the Digidestined that represented that trait," he told me. "And now you're old enough to understand what it means. The time has come for me to pass the Crest to you. It's not meant for me anymore. A Crest needs to be held by an innocent child. It has shaped me into who I am, and I hope that it can help you achieve your destiny, though your path will differ greatly."_

" _I can't just follow the same one you did?" I asked, pouting, because that seemed to be an easier option than the one that he was suggesting to me._

" _Of course not," he said with a small smile. "Each Crest affects each person differently. Sora and I needed to learn each others' Crests in order to fuse, and while Love to me was romantic, love for her was not. My Knowledge was an ever present need to use knowledge, and ultimately wisdom, where Sora needed to simply understand. For you, it will take another path. You cannot look to the forbearers—in this case Izumi, and then myself, for the answers."_

" _Because that would be cheating, and not Knowledge at all," I summarized._

" _Exactly," Koushiro told me._

" _Renjiro," Hideto said to him. "Your Crest is Pride. Learn it, live it, embrace it, but don't become arrogant about it, because arrogance isn't Pride, or something. I don't even know what to say. I didn't know we were supposed to come up with speeches. No one told me to. So I didn't. Sorry, buddy."_

" _It's okay," Renjiro said, looking confused._

Right. I needed to look towards my own path. Knowledge to me wasn't just something to have. It was something to strive towards so that I could help people. It wasn't a selfish desire, and I couldn't put my own wishes above such a serious goal. I wanted to help people, and it wouldn't matter what school I got into. I would be able to achieve my dreams regardless.

"Renjiro," I said softly. "Can we talk?"

"I guess so, yeah," he said, looking sad. I knew he had no pride in himself. He had no confidence that he was intelligent anymore, all because he hadn't gotten into _one_ school. He was disregarding all of the other schools that he'd gotten accepted into. His sadness over not going to the same school as me was really hindering his ability to have fun during the holiday.

"Renjiro," I said, when I'd dragged us into the laundry room. There were towels and blankets and dirty clothes everywhere, and I wondered if Nikko had just tossed everything in here to hide it, instead of actually cleaning before we arrived. But I pushed those thoughts from my mind, because they weren't important. "Renjiro, I know you haven't gotten into the school you wanted to, and I'm sorry about that. I love you though, and I don't want to hurt you in any way. I want you to know that I'll do whatever you need me to do. If you need me to go to a different school, then I will. I won't even hesitate."

"Don't do that," he said quickly, shaking his head and putting a hand on his forehead.

"I just want you to feel comfortable in your own skin," I said gently. "You're an amazing guy, Renjiro, and you're so smart and patient. You're going to be a great dentist some day. The school you end up going to isn't going to matter in the end. And I want you to know that I don't care what school I go to. I just want you to be happy."

"I don't want to keep you from _your_ happiness though," Renjiro said shaking his head. "I can do things on my own. I don't need you to sacrifice anything for me. I don't want our relationship to be built on that."

"It's not," I said. "I want you to be happy, and I want to be with you. Those are separate facts, they're not dependant on each other. I love you, Renjiro."

"I love you too," Renjiro said. "And that's why I want you to go to that school. We've both wanted to for so long, and you get that chance. Make us both proud."

"But what about you?" I asked, feeling both touched and slightly irritated by his declaration. I was trying to make us both happy, but he was determined to ignore that. It was sweet, but he was ignoring my decision too, so...

There was a sharp knock on the door, followed my Makoto's voice. "I don't know what you're doing in there, but you should probably stop. I've got something for Renjiro. It's not really a present, so you should probably open the door."

I did, because we weren't doing anything secretive, and I looked at him with one brow raised. "Yes?"

"Oh, good," he said, relaxing. "I really didn't want to interrupt. Anyway, your parents gave me this. I was supposed to give you this yesterday, but I forgot. I was a little preoccupied with the Secret Santa thing. Sorry about that."

It was an oversized envelope. My heart was pounding in my chest. I was so excited for him. I saw the name of our dream school on the envelope and nearly screamed in excitement. Renjiro was far more reserved than I was. I took the envelope and threw it at him, and slammed the door in Makoto's face.

"You're welcome," he said sarcastically. I felt bad and instantly called my thanks through the door, since Renjiro was too shocked to say anything.

I waited for him to open the envelope, but he was too nervous to do it. I was confused, before I realized he thought there was a chance it was a rejection. "They don't send big envelopes if you don't get in."

"R-right" he said, sounding much brighter. He opened it hastily, and there was a packet of confetti among the various documents. I took the confetti and threw it up in the air, jumping up and down, excited for him. He dropped the papers and threw his arms around me, lifting me into the air, and planting a kiss on my lips—something I usually had to initiate, since he was so shy about doing it.

"We're going to be together!" he exclaimed.

"We both win!" I retorted. I wanted us to be together, and he wanted me to go to our dream school. Now we both won the argument. And we were both going to be going to the same school. Life was great, and Christmas was turning out to be amazing!

 _ **Chika Izumi:**_

I was enjoying the presents. I hadn't thought they would be as much fun as they were. I had a large collection of paper going, and a lot of candy, which was my favourite thing. That made me a pretty happy camper. I couldn't wait to share it all with Motimon. I really missed him, but he was going to be with me very soon, and I was so interested to hear what stories he had to tell.

There was one present that I was super excited about, and I knew I would need to remember every little detail about her reaction, because Motimon had helped me come up with the idea and it was a really good one. We were both very proud of the present we'd put together.

I watched other people get their presents from the Secret Santa and with each present, I grew more confident in my present of choice. I was _sure_ she would like it.

"Oh wow," Hiro said. "What is it?"

"It's a dirty old box I found on the side of the road," Madlyn told him. "Even I don't know what's in it!"

"I might just open it later," Hiro said awkwardly.

He was really missing out. I found boxes all over the place and I _always_ looked in them. There were some of the most amazing trinkets and treasures found inside old boxes. A lot of people didn't see the beauty in something that was a little bit—or a lot—broken. It was unfortunate, because broken things were still good. It wasn't nice to just throw them away without trying to find something that could give them new life. A broken plate could become a mosaic with just a few more broken pieces—like those of a glass bottle, or of an old flower pot—and ripped shirts could be sewn together to make a quilt to keep you warm in the middle of the night. I had a quilt made from my old baby clothes so that Motimon would stay toasty warm even in the middle of winter.

I never gave up hope on something without trying my very hardest to find something useful for it. I'd made dozens of wind chimes just to keep things from being thrown into the garbage. Palmon and I used them to decorate the garden outside, tying them to tree branches so that the flowers always had beautiful music to keep them entertained. Bored flowers didn't bloom as brightly, so we had to keep them happy.

"It's not much, sorry," Makoto said to his friend Osamu. That didn't sound very promising. But he was just handing him a bag from a candy store, instead of a wrapped present. "I had something better, but there was a mix up at the post office so I had to improvise."

"That's okay," Osamu said, taking the bag from my brother. He didn't seem upset at all, and why should he? Candy was the best present anyone could ever give. It was sweet and delicious. But Makoto seemed embarrassed, and was looking at his shoes, like he did when he was a little nervous, or was lying. I wasn't sure what was wrong with him.

"I'll get you the other present whenever it shows up though," Makoto said.

"You don't need to," Osamu told him. "We got Aika back, and that's all I really need."

"Well, I already reordered it, so...either you take it, or I'll have to keep it," Makoto said awkwardly.

"Well, in that case..." Osamu said with a smile. Makoto just nodded before coming over to me. He was looking at my collection of candy. He took a bag of gum and took threw some in my mouth, looking at me only after it was already in his mouth. I really liked candy, but I liked my brother too, so it was okay that he took some without asking.

"Sorry," he said, with his mouth full of gum.

"Why did you lie to Osamu?" I asked him. He nearly swallowed that big wad of gum, because he was so shocked that I'd noticed. I didn't know why. I noticed things like that. I noticed a lot of things. I was observant. I didn't have much else to do. I only had one human friend, and Makoto and his friends just took her away from me. I hoped that didn't mean that Yokomon wasn't coming over anymore, because she was my friend too. Yokomon, Motimon, Palmon and Tentomon were my only friends now. It was sad, a little bit, but they were really good friends, so it was totally okay. Humans were overrated anyway.

"I didn't _exactly_ lie," Makoto hedged. But I wasn't going to be distracted. I watched my snow-Motimon melt all the way yesterday because I didn't want him to be alone for even a second during his prolonged death, and I wasn't going to let Makoto get out of telling me the truth. Again, I didn't have much else to do, without Motimon there to play with me. "Fine. I gave his present to someone else that needed it more in a fit of uncharacteristic kindness. I have to wait for her copy to come in so that I can give it to him."

"It's not uncharacteristic for you to be kind," I said, shaking my head. "You're nice a lot, you just get embarrassed about it. You shouldn't though. It's a good thing to be so nice."

"It kind of goes against this whole pompous actor thing I've got going on," he said, laughing to himself. But then he sighed. "That's not helping me any either though."

"Nope," I agreed. "You've got to embrace humility."

"I know," he said. "But acting is way more fun. Tanemon always gets a kick out of it anyway."

"I miss Tanemon too," I said, adding my brother's partner to my mental list of friends. It was always good to find another friend.

"They'll all be here soon, Squirt," Makoto said, rolling his eyes. "Don't worry about it."

"I'm just a little lonely," I admitted, trying to set a good example for him. I could tell the truth without trying to find a bright spin on it. If I could do that, then he could be humble. Neo gave me the Crest of Honesty, after all. Maybe Motimon would digivolve quicker if I was less optimistic and blunter about things. I didn't want to change my entire personality, but maybe I could say how I really felt about things sometimes.

" _Kid, here's a Crest," Neo told me. "It's yours now. It's Honesty."_

Neo hadn't exactly given me any instructions when he gave me the Crest. But Motimon _really_ wanted to digivolve before Tanemon, so I ought to do that much for him.

"There are lots of people around," Makoto pointed out. He didn't understand what I meant though, and I didn't blame him for that. He was never lonely because he had lots of friends and an infectious personality. I sighed, and he looked a little lost.

We both looked over towards Madlyn when we heard her screaming. Louisa was giving her the present she'd bought for the Secret Santa, and Madlyn was throwing masks and dress up shoes and costumes all over the place in her haste to look at everything all at once. She screamed again and threw herself at Louisa, knocking her off her feet. Louisa crashed to the floor onto the pile of costumes.

I laughed, and held tighter to my present. I needed to find Emiko to give it to her. She was going to be so surprised. I didn't want to leave Makoto alone though, so I made him come with me. He put up a fuss, but I could see right through his acting. He came with me, and I walked right up behind Emiko, who was trying to trick Azura into letting her get at the gingerbread house, but he was too smart for her, and wasn't going to let her go. I cleared my throat and reached out to tap her on the back. She turned around and had to look down, because I was still so short. I was waiting for my growth spurt—which Dad promised I'd get, but I still hadn't.

"What's up?" Emiko asked.

"Happy Secret Santa," I told her. She looked worried for a second, but she took the present, eager to see what it was. She unwrapped it and found a glass container full of dirt. "It's an ant farm!" I told her excitedly.

"Where are the ants?" she wanted to know.

"Oh, well they went missing, because I opened it up. I thought they might need air, but they all decided to go on a journey instead. I don't even know where any of them are, but they might come home still," I said, sheepishly.

"Oh dear lord, a bucket of dirt," Emiko said. She didn't sound very excited, and I thought maybe I did a bad job at picking her present out, and I started to feel really sad. Makoto put his hand on my shoulder though, and pretended to cough and Emiko looked at him. I didn't know what he did, but suddenly Emiko was much more excited. Maybe he told her that he knew where the ants were. "Thanks, kiddo," she said. "It's just what I always needed. Maybe the ants that invade my house every spring will like having a new vacation home, other than my counter."

"Maybe," I said eagerly. "It's really deluxe. Motimon designed it with me."

"It's real...swell," Emiko said, putting a smile on her face.

"It's more than you deserve," Makoto said grumpily. "You tried to trick everyone into giving you presents."

Emiko turned a funny shade of red, and sputtered some excuses before she wandered off, leaving me very confused. Makoto looked to me and told me to follow him, so I did, and he led me over to his friends. He told me to sit down and then he sat down next to me.

"Chika's our friend now," he declared. "She gets to hang out with us."

"She's always been my friend," Aika said reaching out her hand to me. Nikko's eyes lit up and he grinned at me, and Osamu smiled and Hiro nodded his head. They all wanted to be my friend! I was so happy that I started crying.

"What did I say?" Makoto asked, confused again.

"It's okay, Chika," Aika said, patting my back and hugging me. "You're awesome. You deserve lots of friends."

"You also deserve to have the best Secret Santa present of them all, which is why I went back in time to find you a genuine ancient Egyptian artefact from Egypt while they were still making the pyramids," Nikko said, proudly holding out a clay urn. "I filled it with candy, because I know you like that."

"Oh, how cool," I said, opening the urn and looking inside to see hundreds of candy hearts. "I won't eat that candy, because the urn's for dead body parts and that doesn't seem safe. And also, I'm not really interested in ancient Egypt."

"What? No," Nikko said, looking very confused. "I saw your room."

"Oh, I redecorated yesterday, before coming to the party," I explained. I held out my tablet and showed him my new space themed room with a rocket ship bed and constellations mapped out on the ceiling. Mom and Dad both helped me with those, which was really fun. Nikko seemed really shocked by how different my room looked. I thought it was funny. "I really like the present though, because you put so much thought into it, and went to so much trouble."

"We almost died," Makoto grumbled, while I leaned over and kissed Nikko's cheek. Makoto gasped and tried not to growl, and I thought _that_ was pretty funny too. "If you two are gonna date, try not to do stuff in front of me."

"Date?" Nikko said, excitedly. I smiled shyly, and my face flushed. I didn't know where Makoto got that idea, but I had to say that I wasn't entirely opposed to it—even if Makoto was.

 **Featured Evolution Line: Madlyn:** Zerimon—Gummymon—Sistermon Noir—Sistermon Awakened—Cho Hakkaimon—QueenChessmon

 **Iris and Madlyn:** Mastemon (Fusion)


	20. Blue Christmas

**U/N:** Tenshi again! I like Tenshi a lot, but I don't really like Aika a WHOLE lot. I mean, I wrote her, so I have to like her a bit obviously, but ultimately she's bitter and not in the fun kind of way. I know she's bitter for a reason that she thinks is suitable but I think she's over reacting :P But STILL I do like parts of her and since I know the person she ends up being, I like her a lot, but at this point she's such a teenager. Anyway, I hope you like this! We're getting close to the end, which means Christmas is preeeetty close too!

 **Title: Here Comes Santa Claus**

 **By: UrazamayKing**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.**

 **Chapter 20: Blue Christmas**

 _ **Tenshi Takaishi:**_

The day was going well, but I was still caught up in how anxious I felt about the upcoming audition. I still had not found my cello and because of that I could not practice, it _had_ however given me a chance to experiment with my other hobbies including, but not limited to, photography. Salamon and I had been out and about for hours at a time taking pictures of all kinds of wildlife, or people or even buildings. Anything was alright by me because I was just having tons of fun.

I missed Salamon though because he was still not here. Checking the clock told me that he was late, as well as all of the rest of the digimon and our parents. They said they would be here over an hour ago but they were yet to show up, which meant that I could not give Ryou his present—which was an old fashioned pocket watch, since he was always losing track of time—and since I had yet to receive a gift from my Secret Santa, whoever that was, I was gifted with time to admire the gifts I _had_ gotten. Renjiro had gotten me some new earmuffs, which was perfect because he had taken mine apart for the metal inside to perform an experiment, and Louisa—aka Santa Claus—had framed a picture of the eight of us. The four of us being Renjiro, Kana, Louisa and myself, and our digimon. Louisa called us her 'Inner Circle' which was why I thought my necklace present was perfect.

I was happy about the present Louisa gave me because it became quickly apparent that she had spoken to the parents to find the perfect gift but if she had spoken to _my_ parents, then I could have received more cello sheet music, which would have been lovely, really, but I think I liked the photo more.

Looking around the room was wonderful no matter what presents anyone had gotten though because everyone was in such a joyous mood—except perhaps Elliot—and the feeling of warmth and happiness was spreading and growing throughout the entire house. No matter where I went I could feel a magnet pulling me back to the atmosphere that was this room. The younger children—Iris, Madlyn, Izumi, Yukai and Taro—were playing with Elliot who was doing his very best to keep them all entertained, but finding it to be rather troubling because he was only one person among five rambunctious children. Chika had dragged Nikko to the window and they were staring out to the falling snow, while Aika, Osamu and Makoto watched them, probably gossiping about the new blossoming relationship. Emiko and Azura were watching the children, but just barely, and were eating some of Chika's forgotten candy out of the canopic jar, which seemed rather unsafe and perhaps a bit morbid. Haruki and Louisa had gone out looking for Mai who had actually vanished in the middle of the night, and I was glad to see Haruki warming up to Louisa again, forgiving her for her slip up about marriage. Kana and Renjiro were celebrating with some kind of cider about Renjiro's acceptance and I wanted to join them, but would of course wait until they were finished their private session. Josei was running around and screaming while playing with a toy dinosaur and a princess doll, and of course there was Hiro.

Hiro and Shouta were talking over by the fire and laughing about something, and while I was happy to see Hiro smile, I only wished that he would smile to _me_ sometimes. I missed having him be my friend across the hall. He was my best friend for a long time, before we each went separate ways with our newer friends, and while I loved my friends—and wouldn't trade them for anything—I still missed Hiro. Christmas as Louisa wanted it to be was fun, but I thought that the one thing I really wanted was Hiro and I to be on good terms again.

Chika's sudden shriek of excitement brought me from my thoughts and I turned to the big window. "Motimon!" she exclaimed with sudden vigor. She ditched Nikko a moment later and rushed to the front door, clearing up a space at the window for me to see the army of figures coming up the path to the door. I moved closer when I spotted my dad and I saw that he was holding Salamon.

A bubble of excitement formed in my chest and I hurried after Chika where Louisa was ushering people inside with big arm movements. She and Haruki had just returned too it seemed, but Mai was still nowhere to be seen. I saw Chika's excitement spill overboard as she reached out to Motimon who was bouncing alongside Palmon and Tanemon. Tentomon was nearby with Biyomon and several bird digimon—well, Yokomon wasn't a bird, but from what I'd seen they usually turned into one—and Gabumon was nearby with Melga. Uncle Taichi and Aunt Rei were standing by the open door, welcoming everyone into their house as the flow thickened. Mimi and Koushiro came in and nearly bypassed their daughter who caught their attention by shouting out with excitement. Sora—holding Tsunomon—and Yamato were next with Gomamon nearly tripping them as Monmon chased him through the house. Bearmon was soon to follow with Bukamon held tightly in his arm, scolding Monmon all the way. Warg was with the rest of Allias III digimon as they searched for Melga in the crowd and Mari, Kiyoko and Hideto all walked in together, laughing about some story told outside, while Willis dawdled behind with Michael and Tatum. Terriermon and Lopmon were poking fun at Betamon who was laughing in good humour while Monodramon skipped along behind. Veemon, Hawkmon, Armadillomon and Wormmon made up a group of rather excitable digimon who just wanted to see what kind of celebration they would be joining. Labramon was being annoyed by Pal and Pul who were just rude and everyone knew that, while Goblimon came in rather peacefully holding Upamon and Hopmon. Chapmon was talking up a storm to his group of friends, Koromon, Tokomon and Minomon. Poromon and DemiVeemon stopped halfway through at Haruki's feet as he waited for Louisa to finish at the door. Jou and Momoe were with Iori and Natsuni as they came in to join our fun and just behind them was Daisuke and his wife Kurayami. Miyako had tripped in the snow it seemed and Ken was helping her through the door while the remaining digimon—Gummymon, Chibimon, Leafmon, Budmon and DemiMeramon—waited behind them.

Finally, after the massive army of newcomers came through the door and joined the excitable children in the other room, Taichi and Rei felt comfortable coming inside. They took each other's hands before stepping out into the room where everyone had gathered, preparing themselves mentally before seeing what kind of mess we had brought into their house. I felt bad, but I was happy that we had kept the house relatively in order considering the events.

"Wait a minute!" Louisa called after the two of them, "is that everyone?"

"I think so," Rei said, stopping in the doorway to count the faces, "Wait..."

Louisa was pleased at the slight hesitation in Rei's voice and she turned to look outside where she found what she was looking for. " _Nevelen_!" she shouted out, waving dramatically, "Yoo hoo!" I looked out the door and found that Neo's face turned bright red, but Eleven smiled at the excitement and waved—much less animatedly—back to Louisa. I was still slightly confused because not _everyone_ had come inside, but when I poked my head around the door I saw Mom making her way up the steps of the porch and Dad was right behind her.

"Tenshi!" Mom said with a big smile, she hurried over and pulled me into a hug, "My baby, how did your day go?"

"It was fun," I told her, hugging her back, "How was your night?"

"We prepared a dinner and were going to see a movie, but we fell asleep early," Mom admitted sheepishly. "I needed a good long nap." Gatomon and Patamon slipped past me and into the house.

"It was still nice," Dad said, though he still looked to have a bit of bed head, like he had slept in too. I smiled to him and he patted my head kindly.

When Salamon leapt into my arm I packed out of the way so everyone else could get inside. "I was so scared at the party," Salamon was telling me, "There were _a lot_ of digimon and everyone was loud and screaming, but there was cake and Babamon and Jijimon were there—they're the best." I did know how much he loved the two of them so I was pleased he got to enjoy his night as much as he did.

As Mom and Dad got out of the way for Neo and Evelen I noticed that the two of them looked a bit upset, and I could tell there was something wrong. Both of them looked to one another like they were wondering who was to give me the bad news, but it was Dad who took the weight of the news. "Tenshi," he said, "Son, we found your cello." I felt a confused sort of flutter in my heart. I was glad they'd found it because I really needed to practice, but it just meant that would have less time for everything else. That was okay though because I knew how important my cello playing was to my parents. "It... was broken, quite a lot actually. We think you may have left it outside."

I couldn't remember _ever_ playing my cello outside, but I knew that if I told them that, then Hiro would get into trouble because he was obviously to blame—or perhaps one of the digimon, but both Gatomon and Patamon would have come clean, and Salamon would never lie to me. So, either way, it was Hiro or his partner. "Oops," I said weakly.

"Excuse me," a mostly unfamiliar voice said and Dad stepped aside to allow the man through. As he did I saw who it was and I smiled to him. It was Ryou, and he was basically the coolest person ever. He was so nice, and understanding and kind and literally _cool_. He was wearing necklaces that I could never pull off and he had elaborate gloves too. His arm was around a pretty girl who looked rather tough. I'd never met her before though.

"Sorry," I said to Mom and Dad, "I'll be right back, okay?" they both nodded and I hurried toward my suitcase upstairs and pulled out the small box for Ryou. I hurried back downstairs and found him with his girlfriend and their two partner digimon, Cyberdramon and Renamon. So that was Ruki! I had not seen her for a long time, and she looked so different, but knowing who she was now it made a lot of sense. "Ryou," I said, stepping into his view. "This is for you."

"So _you're_ my Secret Santa," Ryou said with a big grin, removing his arm from Ruki's shoulders, "Couldn't have asked for a better one, honestly."

I smiled back to him and then his girlfriend caught my eye. "You're Tenshi, right?" I nodded, feeling guilty for not knowing who she was immediately. "Right, I can see it then," Ruki said, leaning back in her chair. She looked up to Renamon and smirked, "You see it?"

"S-see what?" I asked nervously.

"The sparkle of a thousand suns hidden behind your eyes," Ruki said, stifling laughter. Renamon joined her in her suppressed amusement, but I was still quite confused. "You know Shaochung Lee? The girl in your class?"

I thought briefly to ensure I was not missing someone, "If you mean who I think you do, she isn't in my class. She's one year younger than I am."

"Oh," Ruki said, nodding her head, "That's probably her. She talks about you an awful lot."

I felt my face flush and I tried to shake off her words. "I see her sometimes, and she's quite energetic, but kind and very pretty."

Ruki grinned, "I'll bet she'd be happy to hear you say _that_ ," she said, "I think she has a crush on you, honestly." My face turned redder and I turned my attention back to Ryou who let out a loud laugh as he opened his gift, and I was proud to say that it was a _good_ laugh and not that he was laughing _at_ me. He understood the humour in it then, which I was happy about, but as he was thanking me, the music that had started playing stopped abruptly and a loud voice called out to everyone.

"Hello?" Mai shouted, catching my attention, my first thought was that I was glad she was okay. All eyes were suddenly on her—and that was a _lot_ of eyes—and I saw that she was holding hands with Clio, who I did not know well. "Hi," Mai said, her face turning red too. "I'm gay!"

 _ **Aika Ishida:**_

The room was silent for a moment until Miyako moved across the room to embrace her daughter. She then began whispering into her ear and I didn't know what she was saying but it didn't matter because it was none of my business. And none of _Makoto's_ either.

"I wonder if I move closer if I could hear—" I elbowed him sharply as he began to crawl toward them and Yokomon laughed loudly in my lap at Makoto's squeak of pain. Tanemon shot me a dirty look but I was sure she wasn't _too_ upset. Nikko and Chika had joined us once more, this time with their partners and Osamu, Hiro, Tokomon and Minomon were all sitting against the wall. Our pile of blankets had been moved to accommodate all the newcomers, even though it was totally unfair because all the adults could just go away to the room Louisa set up for them. They didn't need to be so... _everywhere_.

I felt someone behind me and flopped my head back to see Mom. She grinned at me and kissed the top of my head, so I let out a mandatory groan. It just made sense to reject familial love while in public, but that didn't mean I didn't secretly enjoy it. "Hey Mom," I said to her.

"Hello," she said quietly, "Did you have fun?"

" _Still_ having fun," I told her, motioning to my friends. She bit her lip to keep from smiling. I knew she was excited for me to see that I was with the others again. She had been the one telling me to swallow my pride and ask them to forgive me—of course I'd told her a story about how _I_ was the bad guy in the situation. I couldn't have her being mad at Taichi or Michael, Ken, Rei, Koushiro, Mimi, Miyako, Tatum or Uncle Takeru and Aunt Hikari because their children were being mean to me. She was just happy to see that things were moving back to the way they ought to be.

Mom motioned with her head over to Biyomon who was bouncing up and down around Shouta who was, once again, sitting by himself. I felt a pretty big weight in my chest at the sight of it all because I just felt so bad for him. He hadn't made any friends in school and because of his age he just didn't quite fit into any of the groups of the Crest bearers. "He's just shy," Mom said to me. "Could you help him out? I think he needs some cheering up, and I'm not sure Biyomon knows exactly what kind of care an introvert like him needs."

"Sure, Mom," I agreed, passing Yokomon off to her. She smiled at me and patted my shoulder to give me room to make my way over to my brother. She wasn't wrong either, he was _really_ shy, like maybe the shyest person I'd ever seen.

" _Are you sure?" Shouta asked in a weak voice, "Seriously I don't want to m-make you give it to me if you're not sure."_

" _You're not_ making _me do_ anything _," Taichi droned on, "honestly Shouta, the Crest is yours, I didn't pick anything."_

" _Oh you haven't picked yet," Shouta said, wiping his brow, "good! Because I don't want one—not_ Courage _anyway."_

" _Oh come on, it'd be so cool!" Tsunomon argued, but Shouta was firm in his decision._

" _I'm just not brave," Shouta said quietly._

 _Taichi took Shouta's shoulders into his hands and looked him dead in the eyes, "You_ will _be," then as the two of them began to glow orange Shouta began to panic, "Sorry Kid, but you'll thank me later, I swear."_

"Shouta," I prodded, startling him into nearly dropping Tsunomon out of his arms. Biyomon looked up with a big smile—but she wasn't _really_ smiling, since she was a bird, but I knew what she was trying to do—and stepped back. "You alright?"

"He's sad, I think," Biyomon said, "but I can't quite figure out why and he won't tell me which is just annoying because _how_ am I supposed to figure it out if he won't tell me—of course I've guessed but he won't even tell me if I'm right or wrong and oh I just don't know what to do—" Biyomon caught on to my gesturing and she nodded, "I'll just let you give it a go." She winked dramatically and I was sure Shouta saw her, before she fled, rushing off to join Tentomon again. I knew Shouta didn't want to talk so I was just going to sit with him and when I sat by the fire he nodded and sat down too, ready to watch everything going on around us.

"What does _gay_ mean?" I heard Yukai ask nearby.

"It means that you love a boy!" Taro told him, "But not Mai—it means _she_ loves girls."

"Cool!" Yukai shouted, rushing off, but Taro suddenly looked upset which was sad. Oh how I missed the simplicity of being a child. Everything was 'yes' or 'no' or 'right' or 'wrong' and there was nothing complicated about _anything_. Mom seemed to disagree with that claiming that her life had always been complicated and judging by the character based on her in Uncle Takeru's books it sure seemed to ring true to me. Maybe I was more like her than I thought, but thankfully I had a bunch of Dad worked in too. Sometimes I felt like I had all their bad qualities where Shouta got the good ones, but I still liked who I was.

Taro watched as Yukai rushed off to his brother who tried to brush him aside, "I'm eavesdropping," Haruki told him, as he stared toward his best friend who was still talking to her mother about her recent announcement.

"But I got you this," Yukai told him, "It was _me_! _I_ was your Secret Santa all along!" Haruki finally took his attention away from Mai to open the gift. He was excited because he was such a good big sibling—way better than me—and when he opened it a smile broke out on his face. "See it's a ticket book—and you can turn them in whenever you want to hang out with me!" Haruki was grinning foolishly as he flipped through, "That's my favourite!"

"One ticket to sit in silence with Yukai and think about super heroes," Haruki snorted as Louisa read over his shoulder, smiling along too. "That's awesome, I think we'll use this one tomorrow."

"Awesome!" Yukai shouted, punching the air with both hands.

My eyes wandered back to Taro who was standing along watching his friend laugh and play with his brother now. I felt bad that he was left alone too, but my obligations were to Shouta first and foremost. He wasn't alone for long though because Iris slipped away from Madlyn, Izumi, Josei and Elliot—who were all playing with dolls, which was hilarious—to greet him. He looked to her, and smiled before remembering Izumi told him to hate her, but she didn't glare back. Instead, she handed him a small green bag. He looked inside and smiled.

"It's a magnifying glass," Iris said with a giggle, "Because you like to look at the finer details." Honestly that girl was way too thoughtful and mature for her age. "I hope you like it."

"I do," Taro said in surprise as he looked up to Iris, "thanks." He seemed genuinely shocked that someone had noticed something about him and that was honestly just so depressing. He was often so overlooked. Izumi seemed to notice him in that moment though, as she stepped away from the group that was playing with dolls and saw Iris and Taro begin laughing.

A smile began to form on her face which I was surprised to see—but it certainly wasn't unwelcome.

Taro then began to tell Iris that he wanted to give his present to Yukai, but he wasn't even listening to him, and as he said it Madlyn grabbed Iris and pulled her away leaving Taro alone once more. The poor kid. A moment later Yukai rushed past, ignoring Taro and jumping toward the girls with the toy dinosaur in hand, preparing to destroy their perfect doll life.

"Shouta, I'll be right back," I assured him, thinking quickly. I hopped to my feet and rushed over to the girls. "Whoops," I said as I pulled Madlyn into the air. She screamed and began laughing loudly. Elliot looked up with a grin on his face at the sight of me and I smiled back. He acted quickly and grabbed Izumi leaving Iris to defend her friends. Yukai laughed at the sight of the two of them being carried off but I saw Taro sneak up behind him, just as I wanted.

Taro tapped Yukai's shoulder and thrust the present into his hand. Yukai lit up like a light bulb and unwrapped it quickly, tearing away at the paper until he revealed another dinosaur toy. "That's _awesome_!" Yukai roared loudly, handing Taro the old one he'd been playing with. "Come play with me." Taro smiled and followed after his friend.

My work there was done, and when I turned to Elliot to hand Madlyn off to him I found that Izumi was leaping up to me and Elliot was nowhere to be seen. As the three girls hung off of me, I managed to turn enough to see Elliot talking with Shouta now, sitting with him against the wall. I was worried because Shouta was so nervous already, but Elliot's Crest was Friendship, surely he would know enough to not hurt Shouta _again_. I wasn't so sure though because I hadn't learned much about my _own_ Crest—not enough anyway.

" _I dunno," Kiyoko admitted, "It's confusing, isn't it?" he sighed as he slumped down into the couch beside me, "When I first used my Crest it was really Sigma doing it, see, and then I'm not even sure I_ ever _used it right, but there was always those times when I got to Piedmon... I wonder if that was a Dark evolution—I sure hope not, because I'm quite fond of Piedmon... hmm... well I was never too good with these things, but it shouldn't be_ too _hard, right?"_

" _You just have to want things," I agreed, "that sounds easy."_

" _The things that sound easy rarely_ are _," Kiyoko sighed. "I dunno, Aika. I really don't know."_

I spotted Elliot moving toward me now holding a familiar box. I had seen Shouta wrap it. Elliot had his gift, but I knew that _Haruki_ had gotten Elliot's name, so something else was going on. Elliot looked to me over the top of his sunglasses—that he wore inside which was supposed to be cool but was kind of silly—and winked, "Okay, Izumi, this is your gift. If you want it, you'll have to get it from me!"

"Get him!" Izumi ordered, pointing after Elliot as he ran. Izumi, Madlyn, Gummymon, Budmon and DemiMeramon all chased after him, leaving Chapmon to laugh as his partner raced around the room.

Iris began to laugh too but she soon diverted her attention to the boy standing behind her. He poked her shoulder and his face was already bright red as he waved politely to her. "Hello," his voice broke as he spoke but Iris didn't laugh which I was happy to see. I adjusted Josei who was still hanging off my back and stepped back to avoid stepping on the blob that was Pururumon, and continued watching my brother. "Would you like to go outside? We could build a snowman or something." Tsunomon smiled up to Iris from Shouta's arms and she turned her sights to Budmon, waving him over.

"I'd love to," she said kindly, reaching out for his hand. Shouta's face grew redder, if that was even possible and Iris led him and Budmon toward the door. Hopefully they would get some good alone time before the others found him.

"Psst!" I turned at the sound and saw Elliot hiding behind the unlit Christmas tree. Louisa said we could light it after dark and the sun was soon to set, so hopefully we would finally get to see her creation at its best. I moved—with Josei—toward Elliot and crouched down. "Are they coming?" I looked over my shoulder and saw the girls looking around for him still. I shook my head. "Oh good," he breathed a sigh of relief. "Kids are hard to take care of... remind me not to be annoying anymore."

"As if you'd listen," I joked. I was worried it came across harshly because everyone apparently thought of me as rude or cold, but Elliot laughed. "Hey, you did this for Shouta didn't you?"

"Of course I did," Elliot nodded, "I'm awesome."

I rolled my eyes, "Do you want to go for a walk with me?"

Elliot's eyes lit up and he jumped to his feet, "Izumi, here's your present!" he shouted, tossing it across the room to her. She shrieked and jumped up to catch it, but it did not come close to her. Hideto caught it though and handed it off to his daughter who thanked him. "Chapmon, you wanna come?"

"No way," Chapmon shook his head, "It's way too cold out there. Have fun though."

Elliot turned to me and smiled gesturing to the door, "Shall we?"

 **Featured Evolution Line: Shouta:** Punimon—Tusnomon—Commandramon—Sealsdramon—Tankdramon—Darkdramon


	21. All I Want For Christmas Is You

**U/N:** So this is the last duo chapter of the story, and it's got some pretty obnoxious characters going into it, but that's alright because they had to narrate sometime. Hopefully they found some way to redeem themselves. I dunno, but I hope you like the story anyway.

 **Title: Here Comes Santa Claus**

 **By: UrazamayKing**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.**

 **Chapter 21: All I Want For Christmas Is You**

 _ **Elliot Washington:**_

"He seems happy," I said as we stared toward Shouta and Iris. They had walked off to the corner of the house where they were not visible through the windows in the living room and could be unseen by Izumi and Madlyn who were likely searching for Iris now. Shouta was laughing as Iris fell into the snow before throwing some up to him. They were working together to build a snow... something. It kind of looked like a shark, but it was also maybe a turtle?

"He is," Aika said in a quiet voice. She had one hand resting on the tree next to her to help her duck into hiding in case Shouta looked our way. She didn't want him to know we were watching him because it would probably ruin his day or something since he was so shy all the time. Shouta was pulling Iris to her feet when Aika turned to me, leaning back against the tree. "Thank you for that, Elliot."

"Well it's not really special," I admitted, shrugging my shoulders. "I had him in the Secret Santa draw. It was just part of the game I guess." Aika nodded her head and I felt kind of stupid for throwing that off. I'd worked really hard all day to set up the perfect situation for Shouta to slip away with Iris and while it wasn't maybe the best present ever it was still something! Aika looked once more to her brother and I sighed. She was really pretty actually and there was just something about the way the faded sunlight was hitting her hair that sparkled really nicely.

I was waiting for the perfect moment to be all gentlemanly and stuff, and hadn't even buttoned up my coat because I was sure she would state that she was cold soon and I would give it to her so she could stay warm. I wanted to compliment her too but I'd learned the hard way—several times—that Aika did not like compliments much.

" _Aika, I love your longer hair," I said to her._

" _You hated it short?" she snapped, "You're so rude."_

She was just like her mother in that way, but I couldn't see many other similarities. She was more like her dad probably in that she was rather distant and liked to close her feelings off to others. I was trying to learn from her because her dad had given me his Crest and I wanted to do it justice, but since she wouldn't open up for friendship it was really hard to learn. I was probably the worst choice for friendship too. I could be pretty mean—but I didn't actually _mean_ to be mean, I was just sometimes caught up in my head and trying too hard to be cool. But I guess that was probably the point, and that I was supposed to learn to be a good friend and be myself because friends are only your friends if they know the real you or something else random like that. The universe was pretty cheesy like that, so maybe that's what it wanted for me.

I hadn't wanted the Crest of Friendship though, I'd wanted Destiny or Miracles because they were so easy.

" _That isn't fair," I pouted, but Louisa elbowed me to shut me up. Willis was on his knees to get closer to Yukai's eye level but Yukai was still pretty young and looked nervous, like maybe he was going to get in trouble._

 _Willis reached out and took Yukai's shoulders, "I don't know why, but I feel someone tugging me toward you," Yukai looked relieved to hear he wasn't in trouble, but I didn't feel quite so pleased. I already had my Crest so it didn't matter, but this kid got off so easily it was hardly fair. "The Crest of Miracles wants_ you _Yukai. I feel Alice telling me that. I haven't even been able to think clearly for a while because she keeps sending me signs. The Crest of Miracles is yours and I fear that if I don't give it to you now, Alice won't understand that I already read her signs loud and clear." Yukai giggled and Willis nodded, "So, this is for you, okay?"_

" _Sure," Yukai nodded._

 _Then, two separate lights shot from Willis, the golden one hitting Yukai square in the chest and the bronze light of destiny petered off to the other side of the room where Taro caught it. I hadn't even noticed he was there, and by the looks of it, no one else had either._

" _Oh," Willis said, looking rather surprised, "I hadn't known that was yours, sorry..." he had forgotten Taro's name and tried to play it off as himself just ending a sentence but he hadn't done it well._

" _That's f-fine," Taro said, stretching his fingers out to feel his new Crest. A moment later Yukai had taken his hand excitedly and dragged him off to tell their parents the news._

Friendship seemed so easy, but it wasn't. It was _hard_. Life would have been easier with a Crest that sorted itself out. Then again, everyone else seemed to be having trouble with their Crests too. Aika didn't understand Desire, Shouta certainly didn't know what it meant to be brave and, well, Iris didn't even know what Crest she _had_! Haruki, strangely, _did_ understand the Crest of Love—or it seemed so anyway—and I was jealous because Love seemed like the hardest to understand.

I turned to Aika when I felt her pull on my sleeve and she motioned with her head for us to walk away from her brother. I was glad to see Shouta still having fun though. Tsunomon and Budmon were watching from the porch because the snow was too cold for them, and they smiled to us as we passed. Aika led me along the side of the house and I thought maybe there was a garden over here, but I couldn't quite remember, so I stepped carefully anyway.

I saw the broken remnants of our childhood clubhouse off into the trees when Aika stopped in her tracks I knew that she had seen it too. We stared for a moment and reminisced. "I saw you with the others," I said quietly.

Aika nodded, "Yeah, Nikko brought me over." I looked to her with wide eyes that she apparently saw over the top of my sunglasses and she laughed. I felt embarrassed that she had seen my animated expressions, which I could hardly control. That was why I wore the sunglasses. I didn't want people thinking I was like my _dad_. "Crazy, right?" she sighed, "It was Osamu's idea though. Makoto was trying for a while too, but I guess in the end it was a group effort."

"It'll be nice to have a girl around again," I said, smiling to her, "I'm not one for girl talk or idle gossip, but Nikko and Hiro can be such _boys_ sometimes."

"I'm so glad you changed this conversation into one of stereotypes," Aika said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes, "But," she sighed, like this was hard for her to say. "Thank you for noticing that I am in fact a female."

"I know, I have crazy super vision, right?" I asked, a grin forming on my face.

"Must be the glasses," she joked, walking backward away from me. I saw a smile form on her face just before she turned off and then I hurried to follow her. "You'd better get used to having girls around though, because Chika's part of the team now too." I didn't respond because I was lost in thought about what it would be like to have Chika around. She was so weird, but fun. She was the least _wounded_ person ever and could take a joke like nobody's business. She was pretty cool, but Makoto would have to get over having her around. I knew that I wouldn't want _Louisa_ in our group. "That's not a problem, is it?"

"Of course it's not," I told her, smiling again. Aika had pressed herself against the wall of the house next to the open window and I saw that Yokomon and Chapmon were both pressed against the glass looking toward us and I stared at them for a while as they made faces, trying to make me laugh. I wasn't going to budge though.

Aika finally turned to see them and instantly erupted in sudden laughter because Yokomon was so close to her. I couldn't keep the laughter in myself at the sound of _her_ laughs. Aika bumped into me and turned to me to apologize before looking back to Yokomon. There had been no awkwardness there—and we'd like, come in contact with one another. That was pretty cool too. "Yokomon wants to digivolve," Aika said, tilting her head and making a face back to her digimon so she wouldn't suspect we were talking about her. "She's worried she'll be a Biyomon and I won't be able to tell her apart from Mom's Biyomon."

"Oh I don't think she will," I told her, "Digimon evolve based on how they are cared for. You're so different from your Mom, so I doubt you'll get the same result. I'd guess maybe a plant digimon since you're so delicate."

Aika punched my arm in a response to my sarcasm but I simply laughed it off—but seriously it hurt. "Where did you learn all this stuff?"

"Mom," I shrugged. "She's some kind of digimon expert or something." It was true. She worked in the Temple, composing an ever growing pool of digimon information that she liked to teach us when she came home each night. It was boring sometimes, like how apparently Sukamon like apples. Sometimes it was really interesting though, like about how digimon life cycles did not have to follow the same path again but it became easier a second time, because the path had been laid out. It was like water following the path of the drop that came before. I just knew a lot about digimon.

"And here I thought you'd actually read a book," Aika said with a smirk. I didn't learn anything on my own, and found reading quite boring. In fact it wasn't even me who had thought up how to make today perfect—that had been Iris all along.

"I'm sorry, Aika," I blurted out. I was shocked myself so the look on her face didn't confuse me too much. I knew where I wanted to go with it, but I hadn't intended to bring it up so suddenly. "I'm just sorry for being really obnoxious all the time. I don't really know how to _not_ be. It's who everyone wants me to be and being that person becomes really easy."

"Well, you can tell who someone is by looking in their eyes," Aika said, "Your facade behind the glasses doesn't have to be ever present. You could take them off every now and then to show _me_ who you are." I felt my heart begin to race and I tried to chance the subject. I didn't like taking my glasses off.

"Look," I said calmly, "I'm sorry for being pushy. I guess my desperation really came from me wanting you back as a friend. First and foremost, that's what I want, Aika. I want you to be my friend, and _our_ friend. I missed having you around." Aika smiled to me, but looked back to Yokomon when she saw I wasn't taking the glasses off. "And I'm sorry for not understanding that 'no' means 'no' because seriously that's insane."

"It is," Aika agreed, "but you're being a good person now, so maybe I'll change my mind."

I had no idea how to respond to that, and my glasses slid down my nose as I stared blankly to her. She reached up to my face and took the glasses, and I let her. She put them on her own face and turned to me, adjusting her posture, "I'm Elliot," she said in a low voice that I had to laugh at. "I'm gon' date you. Let me hold your hand." She lowered the glasses and added in her own voice, "Say 'no' okay?"

"No?" I tried.

"That means yes, right?" she said in her low voice, reaching out for my hand.

"Ha ha," I said sarcastically, "very funny, Aika." I reached for my glasses but she caught my hand and her fingers were suddenly tangled with mine. I stared to the union for a moment and then back to Aika who pulled me closer to her sharply and planted a kiss right on my mouth. I was shocked but I wasn't going to screw this up since I'd wanted it forever. I threw my arms around her and held her for a moment.

She then backed up and winked at me from above the glasses. She took my hand and started leading me off again. I didn't mind going wherever she wanted to go at that point because I trusted her and her mind. I had been seriously wrong. Aika understood her Crest just fine. She knew _exactly_ what she wanted.

 _ **Hiro Takaishi:**_

"Tenshi," I said weakly, my voice barely carrying toward my brother who was sitting with his friends. Renjiro and Kana were sitting with each other's digimon in their lap while Hopmon and DemiVeemon giggled at Haruki and Louisa who were keeping rather close to one another. Mai was the focus of their attention as they all watched her dance with her dad. Miyako was happy and had Hawkmon and Poromon with her as she watched them. It seemed—from where I stood—that her family loved her anyway and found that her being gay was okay! Which was good, because if they hadn't, they'd have lost a friend in Kiyoko and most likely Hideto too.

Tenshi turned to me and he was smiling, but the moment he saw me his face fell to one of discomfort, like he was unsure if I was going to blow up again. I hated that face. I hated how wounded he could get whenever I was around. Just because I yelled at him didn't mean I hated him.

"Can we talk?" I asked. He looked to Louisa who sat next to him, and she pulled herself away from Haruki long enough to nod at him encouragingly. Salamon wandered up to Tenshi and he took him into his arms. I had Tokomon with me which was probably why Tenshi thought to bring Salamon. He didn't need to if he didn't want to, I just thought I'd need Tokomon for support. I wasn't very good at confrontation—well I was, when the other person was in the wrong, but that wasn't the case here.

I swallowed thickly and began leading Tenshi through the throng of people. Jou and Koushiro were playing a board game with several of the digimon—Tentomon, Gomamon, Palmon and Biyomon—and Sora and Mimi watched them, laughing all the while and taking pictures every time one of the drawn cards required them to do something ridiculous. Hideto and Mari were watching all of Allias III's digimon dance around the Christmas Tree with Dracomon being the most outlandish. Kiyoko was off talking to Evelen who was trying to pick the perfect muffin to eat, but Kiyoko had the perfect suggestions for her. Rei, Neo and Taichi were all sitting together with Agumon held tightly in Rei's arms. Nikko, Osamu, Tanemon, Koramon, Makoto, Minomon, Chapmon, Chika, Motimon and Yokomon were all waiting by the window now, watching to see if Aika was going to kiss Elliot again—something we'd all seen through the window—while Yamato and Dad sat on the couch with their partners, probably complaining about how annoying kids could be or something. I didn't know what old people had to talk about since their lives were practically over. Mom was with Gatomon, Labramon and Kurayami as they organized a cleaning party that Armadillomon, Pal, Pul and Veemon were all happy to help with. Wormmon was trying to help too but he was pretty slow and... well he had no hands. Daisuke had taken Elliot's place in playing with the children, but the game was now much more oriented around seeing who could get their digimon to hurt him the most. Taro wasn't particularly invested in hurting him so Leafmon was simply bouncing on his back with Chibimon, but Gummymon was gnawing at his leg—but since he had no teeth it was pretty painless probably. DemiMeramon was tickling him with the low heat of his flames and Daisuke was laughing like crazy, which Yukai thought was hilarious. Tatum and Momoe were working together to stop Monmon from being insane—but that was a lifelong struggle really—and Bearmon and Kotemon were doing all they could to help them out. Monodramon was glaring to Emiko who was using a remote control car that someone had gotten as a gift to run into his foot over and over again, while Azura sat behind her, his head in his hands, apparently embarrassed. Josei was singing loudly with Pururumon and their new dolls for Terriermon, Lopmon and Betamon who were all forced to listen along, while Iori, Willis and Michael watched them from afar, probably feeling pretty bad for them.

The house was _crowded_. There wasn't anywhere to talk privately—at least not in that room, so I was leading Tenshi somewhere safer. We came out into the area that Louisa had set up for the adults. They weren't using them though which was annoying. I mean I loved my parents, but who wanted adults around at a party? Okay, it was Christmas, so _everyone,_ but couldn't we maybe separate a little? There was no reason to be so crowded.

I reached for the nearest chair that was labelled for Neo but when Tokomon pointed out the mistletoe up above I moved down the table to where my mom was supposed to sit. Tenshi sat next to me at Dad's spot and we both set our partners on the table.

"What's wrong?" Tenshi wondered.

"Nothing," I said honestly, "It's just..." I looked over to the cello against the wall and sighed. I didn't know how to explain this away. It had been a pretty rough week, but we had everything I had gotten everything prepared except for perhaps a present.

" _Voila!" Izumi said, throwing open the back of the delivery truck. I looked inside with Chika hanging over my shoulder. "One exact replica cello, express ordered by yours truly."_

" _Is there an adult around to sign for this?" The delivery man asked. Izumi took the paper without question and began signing her name. "Aren't you a little young—?"_

" _Yes," she said, "yes I am." The man shrugged and turned away to pull the cello out of the truck for us. "Thank you," Izumi said to him before sending him on his way. I was busy trying to think of a way to get the cello in the house undetected and had sent Chika away as a distraction but Izumi simply rolled her eyes. "Amateur," she droned as she took my arm and began dragging me to the side of the house. There was a door to the cellar which she had me open since it was too heavy for her. And then we worked together to get the cello safely inside._

" _You know," I said as she passed it down to me, "You don't_ have _to do this, you don't have to be so nice to me."_

" _I promised you a cello," she said, shrugging._

" _And you've delivered," I reminded her. "You don't owe me anything." She didn't answer, so I simply smiled. "You know," I said, "you're a lot nicer than I thought."_

 _She looked to me sharply. "Don't ever let me hear you saying that again," I looked up to her, shocked, "I have a reputation to uphold."_

Izumi had been more help than I could have ever imagined and while I assumed her Dads had something to do with the actual cello purchasing, that didn't mean she didn't help out and I was thankful for her assistance. I really needed her and she pulled through, which was something no one thought she'd be able to do.

 _As the flash of magenta soared across the sky to Izumi, Nikko looked shocked. "Seriously?" he said, "she's literally the meanest person ever. How is she supposed to get kindness."_

" _Kindness is from the heart," Ken was saying to Izumi, "I know you'll use this well."_

Nikko was wrong, as it turned out, and Ken had been right. Izumi may not have wanted anyone to _know_ that she was kind, but that didn't mean she _wasn't_. She was certainly a lot nicer than I was anyway. She hadn't ruined her brother's future career because of some selfish need to be noticed.

I guess I'd been staring to the cello because Tenshi finally looked around to it and he gasped at the sight, jumping to his feet. "Hiro, did you get this for me?" he asked as he looked it over.

"I did," I nodded sheepishly, "I know it seems nice, but it's not. I was the reason your cello broke in the first place." Tenshi looked to me and tried to fake surprise, but I could tell he already knew it was me who did it. He was really nice to have not said anything to Mom. "I didn't mean to," I told him, feeling my eyes start to sting. "I... I guess I was jealous of you because Mom and Dad love you so much. They think you're the best thing since... whatever the most recent prodigy was, I dunno. I don't know how old people think, they're like a hundred years old. I don't know _why_ they like you so much—well I do, and it's because you're perfect, but I wanted to be liked too. I guess I realized a while ago that you got all their good traits and I got all their bad ones. I got Dad's anger and Mom's self doubt..." Tenshi was staring to me now, having forgotten his cello entirely. Salamon and Tokomon were looking too and I felt pretty pressured suddenly. "I'm just sorry, Tenshi. I'm sorry that I broke your cello and I'm sorry I had to buy you a new one and I'm _really_ sorry that I was so focused on getting this for you that I forgot to buy you a present. I'm your Secret Santa. I'm the _worst_ —"

"Mom and Dad don't love you more than they love me," Tenshi said seriously, but I was having trouble believing him. "Honestly, Hiro they' love you a lot and all they ever talk about is how to make you happy. They love you _so_ much." I broke eye contact to look to the floor, embarrassed. "Hiro," Tenshi said softly, "You don't need to get me a gift. Maybe you could just come to my audition. That would be the best present." I looked confused and Tenshi smiled moving toward me again, "Do you remember when we were younger? We promised to always support each other even if Mom and Dad didn't. I don't know what we were thinking since they're supporting _all_ the time, but Hiro I've been supportive of your friends and your life. Why don't you just come see me perform?"

"Because I'm not supportive of you throwing aside what you actually _like_ to do just to play an instrument that you only want to do as a hobby." The words came out of my mouth like they'd been waiting at the tip of my tongue for years. It felt _good_ to have said them and I hadn't even known I wanted to.

Tenshi looked surprised, and I was afraid he might get angry but instead he laughed. "You're right," he said, patting Salamon on the head, "You're absolutely right..." he looked over to the cello and smiled, "What do you say we leave that cello here for the night?" I grinned at him. "Mom and Dad won't have to know, either. Maybe I don't have to go to this audition after all..."

"Tenshi, I don't want you to throw away your future," I told him flatly.

"I don't graduate for _tw_ _o_ years, Hiro," Tenshi said with a low laugh. "I have time. And if I want to go back to the cello I can always audition again sometimes, right?" I knew it was a really prestigious school and the audition process took _forever_ but it was Tenshi's choice. "So I won't go this year, I think."

"And we can go hiking instead!" Salamon exclaimed.

"Can we come?" Tokomon asked. "Will you take pictures?"

"Of course," Tenshi nodded, looking up to me for clarification. I nodded because there was no way I was going to miss out on this. "We'll go together."

 **Featured Evolution Line: Izumi:** Mokumon—DemiMeramon—Candlemon—Flarerizamon—SkullMeramon—Boltmon


	22. O Christmas Tree

**Y/N:** This is the last chapter of the story and it gets a little cheesy in places and a little over dramatic but that's the point. It's Christmas. I hope you've all enjoyed reading this, and I hope you all enjoy your holidays and whatnot, even if you don't necessarily celebrate Christmas and yep that's about all. Emiko's a crazy person.

 **Title: Here Comes Santa Claus**

 **By: UrazamayKing**

 **Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.**

 **Chapter 22: O Christmas Tree**

 _ **Emiko Kido:**_

"Renrjiro," Mai said, falling to her knees in front of my kid brother. Clio was next to her, smiling down to her brightly. I was happy that Mai had finally come out and been open with her friends and family. I'd known for a while that she was gay because I'm nosey and like to read people's journal's and just get rid of them whenever I was done with them—but I put Mai's back where I found it because learning about secrets was different than inadvertently outing someone. So I let her live her life of lies with not being true to who she really was, but I was pretty sure she understood now. "It's not much," Mai said as Renjiro opened up the massive gift she had gotten for him. "It's just like a bunch of necessities for living on your own. I didn't end up doing it, but I hear it's hard, and you're going to school next year right?"

Renjiro looked proudly to Kana and nodded his head, "Sure am," he grinned.

Kana was looking into the box too and her smile grew wider. She pulled out a book from the box and laughed, "This is such a good book—very informative. You know, I read this as a child..." Kana was droning on about something that was probably supposed to be interesting but wasn't.

I noticed Tenshi and Hiro laughing together and feeding sweets to their partners. Obviously something had gone on between the two of them to make them so happy and open with each other again. I wondered what had happened to the cello that he so desperately needed, but knew that it was none of my business. So, naturally, I was going to go find out pretty soon because I was possibly the most invasive person ever. Or, as Azura so kindly put it, I was 'highly inquisitive and worried about the reality of the situation for others'. That wasn't true of course, but it was so cute that he thought to make me feel better about my so called 'flaws'.

Tenshi had obviously decided that doing the right and honourable thing didn't always mean that he had to do what others wanted him to, and Hiro had finally followed through on _being_ there for someone other than himself. I was happy to see their reconciliation, but that didn't mean I wasn't concerned about the cello! I had paid Mimi dearly for that.

" _I've decided your payment," Mimi said through the phone, having wakened me up way too early. Like at two in the afternoon. "You have to compliment me twelve times before Christmas."_

" _That's ridiculous," I said groggily._

" _Mhm, yep," Mimi agreed, "And each compliment must include something about how young and beautiful I still am."_

My mind naturally wandered over to Izumi because of the cello incident but she had no cello with her either, not that I was surprised. She was too small to carry one by herself. Izumi made her way over to Mai and tapped her on the shoulder before lazily holding out two tickets. Mai looked shocked and turned away from my brother to see the girl who was offering her a gift. "What's this?"

"I'm your Secret Santa," Izumi said, sounding rather bored, "Surprise. Here."

Mai took the tickets and stood up so Clio could look them over as well. "Oh my God!" Clio gasped, "These are backstage passes—"

"Izumi, how did you get these?" Mai gasped.

Izumi shrugged, not willing to divulge her secrets to the common folk. "I figured since you want to be a reporter you could practice on these guys. I don't know, they're famous apparently. I've never heard of them."

She had to be lying, because by the look on Mai and Clio's faces, they were a _pretty_ popular band—whoever they were. It would be kind of funny if it was the Teenage Wolves but I didn't even know if they were still making music. Yamato had to be like two hundred years old by _now_ and since the rest of the teenage wolves were married to those three sisters and had their own lives it made sense that they would just stop. I made a mental note to check and see whenever I had the chance.

"She's nicer than I thought," Clio said as Izumi walked away. Mai and Clio laughed with one another and then rushed off to talk about the passes they'd been given.

By the looks of Renjiro, he was having a wonderful time again after learning about his acceptance. He hadn't told me, so it was a good thing Monmon—who hadn't actually gone to the digimon Christmas party—had been hiding in that closet when they jumped in there or I'd never be one of the first in on the scoop. He probably told his friends before I had a chance to learn though. Louisa started spreading the word immediately with her big mouth. I would have been annoyed with her, but she'd really gone all out in the Christmas party. She'd taken a lot of bullying in school from what I could tell and she fought against it all of it to persevere and have the perfect holidays, dragging everyone else in on her generosity along with it. She'd even bought _me_ a present from Santa. And she was repaid by Haruki expressing his love for her or something. They were together now anyway and it was nice to see.

Haruki wasn't the only one who had spoken up though. Shouta was inside again now, but still with Iris and the two were laughing—shyly of course—with one another while Madlyn told jokes. All of their digimon sat around them too. Shouta had stepped through his fears and conquered them and was now spending time with the sweet Iris and the sour Madlyn who were probably as opposite as it could get, so I was surprised to find that they were still working together so well.

And Aika had finally decided what she wanted and put on a brave face, taking the boy up on his persistent offers because _he_ had finally decided that he wanted to be friends above all else—again, Monmon was spying obviously. It was a good thing I had him around because otherwise I'd be so out of the loop. It was also a good thing I'd learned how to speak his weird screaming language because he simply refused to learn _mine_.

" _I don't understand you!" I could remember screaming at him._

" _AHHHH! AH! AHHH!" Monmon shouted back._

" _Ohh," I said, nodding along, finally understanding. "Why thank you!"_

Nikko's constant and incessant positivity and optimism had won out in the end and he'd gotten the girl of his dreams who had finally accepted that living her own world of truths wasn't nearly as fulfilling as living among friends. I was sure she'd still be Chika—aka insane—but maybe she wouldn't need to befriend snowballs anymore and instead could just be friend with the people around her. Best of all was that she and Aika _both_ got to be included and now no one was left on the outside looking in. That was thanks to Osamu really because he'd finally stood up for himself and what he wanted and expressed his thoughts and ideals just like he always should have been doing.

Taro and Yukai even learned a bit about themselves and their destiny. Taro was obviously head over heels in love with Yukai, and while they were only nine years old, I was hoping for a little miracle to help pull them together.

And Makoto, oh _Makoto_. Makoto learned nothing. Like seriously, what was that boy doing? I was honestly just hoping that whatever he was doing when he left last night—without telling any of us—he learned something valuable about himself, because otherwise that kid was slacking. This was the most productive Christmas ever and he was already making me angry. When he'd left I'd been forced to _look_ for him and like, care that he was gone but did it _really_ matter? He was like ten years old. Maybe more. I couldn't tell.

So other than Makoto, this had been a pretty amazing Christmas. The sun was down now though and we had been promised that the lights would shine when the sun was gone. I was just excited to have the perfect Christmas feeling but it was just taking way too long. I was also convinced that Louisa had forgotten about the lights because of her new boyfriend.

I heard a loud "Ooooh!" and saw Madlyn peering over her sister's shoulder to the box in her hand as Azura handed off his present to her. He'd been her Secret Santa, but he didn't even know her so I was doubtful that he'd gotten her something she'd actually like. When Madlyn reached for it though I found that it was a stuffed toy, which was pretty lame, but Iris was so sweet and thankful. Azura really lucked out—if he'd gotten that for say, Izumi, then he'd be in for a world of trouble.

"That's not fair!" Josei shouted from nearby. Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about her somehow. I was literally the worst babysitter. It was a good thing the parents were back and able to count their own children so I didn't have to. I did find my eyes wandering over to Taro though since he was so often forgotten. He was still here which was good. "I haven't gotten _my_ present yet!"

She was pretty annoying but she was only six and I was hoping that one day she would learn something actually important. I was still learning myself though and I was probably the brattiest one here other than her. I could still remember the day I was told to learn though. It wasn't too long ago, really.

" _So," Iori said, turning away from the group, "I'm going to get this out of the way first."_

" _Yeah, good thinking," I told him, still watching the weird mist disperse. There had been something there a moment before telling my dad and his friends that they had to pass off the Crests and allow the cycle to continue, "I wouldn't want the Crest either. You've all been fighting your entire lives because of them. That's the worst thing ever, I mean seriously, could it be worse at all? Drafted to war because the universe wants you to fight and then you have to wake up early because the world is ending and_ ugh _, I've had enough fighting personally. Remember when Sigma tried to steal my body? Or when the worlds consistently tried to end? Or when I was kidnapped at my mom and dad's first attempt at a wedding. Yeah, well I do, gee I'm so glad I never had a Crest—anyway, who are you passing that off to then Iori?"_

 _He cleared his throat and said nothing as the light shot from him directly toward me._

" _Seriously?" I asked dryly._

Haruki was next, only a few weeks later, when Sora finally finished explaining to him what she thought love meant. It was a big deal for her and for him and for _everyone_. Love was pretty important. Then Mai, then Kana and Renjiro and then Tenshi and one by one each of them received their Crests and the cycle continued. Most recently I was pretty sure it had been Hikari and Kurayami handing their Crests to Iris and Madlyn—another really big deal because they were the balance of everything and now it was in _Madlyn's_ hands. She couldn't even balance the sanity in her mind.

As Josei complained, Iris and Madlyn continued their ever pressing glares to Taro and Yukai as Izumi came up behind them. She looked nervous. "Guys," she said to them, catching their attention. "I've been lying to all four of you. You don't actually hate each other, I just said that because I wanted more attention. I'm sorry for making you all hate each other."

"Wait, why are you telling us now?" Taro asked. Silence followed his words.

"Why are you telling us now?" Madlyn asked.

"Because it was important for you to know," Izumi said, answering Madlyn instead—not being malicious to Taro or anything, she just hadn't heard him. No one ever did. "I didn't want to continue stringing you all along. I'd rather just be friends together."

Iris, Madlyn, Taro and Yukai—who had all learned to get along during that very day—all looked to each other and nodded. "We'll forgive you," Yukai decided.

"We still love you," Iris assured her.

Josei was done complaining but was still visibly sad that she had yet to receive a present. I wondered if everyone else had gotten one already too. Renjiro had recently given his gift to Makoto which was some kind of sheet music for the most popular Broadway productions and Makoto was still flipping through the book. Maybe he'd learn something on Broadway one day. Even I had gotten a present which was just a jar of dirt, and that sucked but I probably deserved that for being so obnoxious and trying to trick everyone out of their presents.

Despite what everyone probably thought, I _did_ feel kind of bad about that, which was why Josei's pouting was the perfect opportunity for me to get to work. I moved upstairs quickly and grabbed the big bag of gifts. They were mostly candy and toys and books and stuff, but I didn't have a lot of money. I did however need to make it up to the others if I ever hoped to be forgiven. Kana and Renjiro were especially annoyed with me, and I loved them both as, you know, subjects to prank, but also as my brother and his weird girlfriend.

I cleared my throat loudly when I was back in the living room and eventually all eyes turned to me, but it took way longer than it was supposed to. I dropped the bag in front of me and Monmon began digging through it. I swatted him away and he looked hurt. "Hello everyone, my name is Emiko Kido and I will be your speaker for this evening."

"Emiko, what are you doing?" Kana asked.

"I'm here to apologize," I told her, "It was wrong of me, an adult, to try to steal Christmas from you, a bunch of children, and as an apology, I am here to give you each a handpicked present." I didn't get to say much else because Josei—along with a bunch of the other kids and digimon were hurrying forward. It was good that I'd thought about the digimon though because otherwise they'd be so out of luck.

"I got a banana!" Agumon shouted excitedly.

"I got batteries!" Tanemon shrieked with joy.

" _A box of tissues_!" Pal and Pul exclaimed.

Okay, so they _were_ handpicked, but they weren't exactly personalized. Josie received doll clothes for a doll that Izumi had been gifted, and they decided to share. Other presents included a book on philosophy for Renjiro (one that had been given to me by some weird casting director guy), a day planner for Kana and a _bunch_ of candy for the other kids. Renjiro was pushed aside where he was forced to stand with Hideto and Aika was shoved nearby as Kiyoko caught her before she fell to the floor. Haruki nearly trampled Chibomon and Minomon but Sora helpfully pulled him aside.

Monmon was last, waiting patiently and he pulled out a heavy bag that I'd thrown in here. "They're rocks," I told him. He looked up to me like I was the best person in the world, which was pretty much true. He'd probably break a bunch of stuff in my house with those rocks by using his slingshot but whatever.

Shouta and Chika stepped out of the group of people shouting about candy and found themselves near Taichi, Neo and Rei. Kana was smart enough to get out of the way on her own and walked to the clearest space where only Upamon, Tentomon and Koushiro were standing, but not before pointing out Madlyn's rampage to Hikari as she and Kurayami moved in to pull the twins from the crowd.

"Emiko, this was very kind of you," Dad said, holding a single sock. He was being sarcastic probably but I hugged him anyway. He hugged me back. Iori was standing right next to him with Armadillomon, Gomamon, Hiro and Tokomon. "Merry Christmas, Emiko."

"You too, Dad." I said, watching over his shoulder as Daisuke pulled some of Makoto's candy from his hands. In his attempt to get it back he crashed into Tenshi who fell into Miyako and the domino effect didn't stop there as Ken nearly toppled over onto Izumi. She helped them all to their feet and they all backed away from Daisuke and Makoto together.

"Has everyone gotten their presents then?" Azura asked loudly. I was surprised though because he was usually such a shy guy. His face _did_ turn red, but he had Kotemon with him to back him up. All eyes turned on him as Yamato and Takeru paired up the socks I'd given _them_. "I have something really important to do, so like... yeah."

He backed away nervously and fell to his knees next to his bag and Dad watched him with one eyebrow raised. "What's that boy up to?" he asked.

I knew. Azura was digging around but came up empty handed. His face paled as he kept digging, throwing everything out at random. "Just—sorry, one second." There was a murmur passing through the crowd of like a bajillion people as Azura grew more and more frustrated and nervous. There was something he was trying to find, but it wasn't going to be in there. "I know it's here somewhere..." it wasn't.

"Well," I said loudly, capturing all eager eyes. They were all desperate to turn their attention away from the mess that was my boyfriend. "Since he's busy looking for something, I have an announcement to make too. I did _not_ buy a present for my Secret Santa. Oops," I shrugged, and everyone rolled their eyes because it was a stupid announcement. Well that was true. Elliot pushed past Yamato and was standing with him now as Nikko popped up next to Takeru. "But I do have what he's looking for," I said as I made my way to Azura. My heart was beating nervously though and that sucked because I was a pretty outgoing and confident person. But for some reason I couldn't shake the nerves that were creeping through my body. I grabbed Azura's arm and dragged him to his feet before taking his place on the floor on one knee.

"Oh my _god,_ Emiko," Azura rolled his eyes as I pulled the black box I'd stolen from him out of his bag. "Did you actually—?"

"Silence, Boyfriend." Azura laughed and gave me the okay to continue as everyone around us held their breath. Louisa pushed her way to where her father stood in the front of the crowd, shoving Osamu into Mari sharply, but apologizing at least. "Azura, my lovely boo. I've known you forever, and you were the most annoying kid in my class, but you were also the only one who ever gave me the time of day or noticed the things I actually loved about myself. You saw my dancing and you saw my pranks. You never made fun of that ridiculous monkey costume like all the other kids... and as we grew up you were my best friend—" a shriek sounded behind me. "Along with Monmon," I corrected. "I love you because you're the only person who has ever told me to keep doing what I do and be me no matter how over the top I get. I love you because you're the _best_ person in the entire world, and I want to marry you." There was a pause and I got to my feet and handed him the ring, "Get down there and ask me then."

I heard Mom laugh loudly, but there were tears of joy too. I could just tell. When I looked to her I found that I was right and she was holding Bearmon and Bukamon as Renjiro and Kana stood nearby. Gomamon and Dad were nearer to me watching with wide eyes and for a moment I thought Dad would object but he simply nodded his head.

Azura cleared his throat, "Emiko Kido, will you marry me?"

"Oh my god this is so surprising!" I gasped out, looking around, pretending to be flustered. "I'm really going to have to think about this." Azura rolled his eyes again. "I'm _kidding_!" I said loudly, throwing my hand out to him. "Of course I will marry you! Put the ring on my finger, Baby!" Azura did as was asked of him and the entire room burst into applaud and I loved every minute of it. Being the center of attention was something I loved doing. Seven years ago I had staged a ploy about being pregnant just to get attention, and I was _proud_ to say that I hadn't had a baby yet.

 _Yet_.

"While everyone is gathered and quiet," Ryou said, stepping away from the crowd, "I do have one last present to give." Everyone turned to Josei because it was so obvious that it was for her since she was the only person who had yet to receive her Secret Santa gift. She shyly stepped away from the crowd, passing between Yukai and Taro as Willis helped her along, and stood in the center with Ryou and was holding Pururumon close to her chest. Ryou smiled at her as his girlfriend made her way through the crowd to stand in the front and watch him. Cyberdramon and Renamon were watching now too.

"Is it for me?" Josei asked.

Ryou laughed and nodded, crouching down to see her at eye level. "It is," Ryou assured her. "Everyone else has already done this, and I guess it's time for me to as well. I've been running through time and space and jumping between worlds and running for my life. I've passed between several partners and fought in several wars for the safety of all worlds, and about seven years ago I finally defeated the final Great Evil. While that was amazing, I wasn't quite done. I had a few loose ends to tie up, and now I'm done that." Josei nodded and I actually thought she might be listening to his story even. "I'm _finally_ done. My adventure is over and my duty is no more. I can finally just _live_."

"That's so happy," Josei told him, snuggling up to her partner. "So what does that mean?"

"It means I don't need my Crest anymore, Josei," Ryou said with a smile. Miyako gasped and Ken smiled. He'd carried the Crest of Trust around with him for a long time looking for its true owner and now it was coming back into his family with his youngest daughter. "It's time for me to pass it to _you_."

Josei looked excited but nervous too.

Louisa and Michael had already made their way to the light switch since the sun was fully down now and just as the light flashed from Ryou, passing on to Josei, the house lights went down and the Christmas lights came on.

But they weren't alone.

Elliot's Crest of Friendship was glowing as he looked over to Aika and her Crest of Desire burned just as bright. Courage was shining next to her as he looked over to the mess that was the Crest of Light and Darkness shining from Iris and Madlyn collectively. Haruki's Crest of Love shone as he reached out to Louisa whose Strength was glowing in her chest. Kana was still near Koushiro and he was impressed to see her purple glow for Knowledge and Renjiro was looking up Hideto with Pride glowing too. Tenshi's Honour was glimmering and even Izumi had her Kindness shining. Hiro's Faith and Makoto's Humility shone—somehow—and Chika's Honesty was all she and Motimon were able to focus on. Mai and Clio cuddled closer as Mai's Purity shone between the two of them and Nikko's Hope was glowing nearby. Taro and Yukai laughed at one another as they lit up like a light bulb—because of their Crests Miracles and Destiny—and Willis who was still standing over them looked impressed, but Terriermon and Lopmon were busy dancing around the two of them. Even Osamu managed to get his Crest of Tenacity into action and as I looked down to my own chest I saw the Crest of Forgiveness burning and there was a warm feeling spreading through my chest.

I looked to Azura and to Monmon and Bearmon and Kotemon—my team of mischief—and smiled. The Cycle of the Crests had continued and we were all here to share it with each other on the best Christmas _ever_.


End file.
